NHS: Protective Clothing

(asked on 20th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many visors (a) donated and (b) sold by the Government of the People's Republic of China to the UK to help protect NHS staff from Covid-19 have been found to be faulty in the last three months.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 21st July 2020

China is an important source of life-saving medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the National Health Service. All medical equipment procured by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Trade undergoes extensive checks before it is distributed to frontline services. These include visual stock inspection, due diligence on the supplier, and matching products to technical specifications.

Currently, information on the amounts of PPE found to be faulty from the People’s Republic of China is not held centrally.

All PPE procured from abroad that arrives at the Daventry warehouse is checked. If it is not CE marked then documents are sent to the UK regulators, the Health and Safety Executive and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, who agree to its release as the Market Surveillance Authorities for PPE and medical devices. Products are only released into the supply chain if the documents show the product is fit for its intended use.

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