The government failed to act on warnings that there would be a shortage of PPE equipment in the weeks before the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a major medical equipment supplier has told MPs.

At a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, the head of one of the UK’s largest PPE firms also criticised the government’s “VIP lane”, saying he was unaware it existed.

Sarah Stoute, the chief executive of Full Support Healthcare (FSH), said that she had told government officials in December 2019 that there would soon be a shortage of equipment.

“All of the hubs in the country were emptying. There was no stock and hospitals had started to call, to say they were in a panic. It took all of December and January to beg [the government] to release the Brexit stock as a matter of emergency, whilst we went to production full-scale in the background, and urged them to place orders on products that were running out,” she said.

Stoute said her company went into production without specific orders because it had previously experienced the government’s failure to react with speed in other health emergencies.

She said her firm had millions of items ready to sell to the government in January but did not get an order until April 2020.

Thomas Martin, the chairman of distributor Arco, told MPs that the company had been “frustrated” in attempts to supply the government with equipment despite more than a decade of experience in the field.

He told how the family-owned firm had about £40m worth of stock sitting in warehouses when the pandemic broke but had eventually been forced to deal with individual hospitals to get equipment out to frontline staff.

“We had approved certified products sitting in our warehouse in the UK, we have a team in China who have been there for over 11 years who actually run the quality assurance and the ethical training, so they were on the ground and we could even provide details and supply chains going forward for four or five months to government colleagues,” he said.

“We really tried. If you have had a chance to read my letter to Lord Deighton then you can see we were frustrated and fearful for the fact that we could not deploy our sales force, our warehousing resource, our quality assurances and our technical expertise the length and breadth of the UK,” he said.

He said that he was not made aware of the VIP lane for suppliers and so was forced to sell directly to trusts desperate for PPE supplies. “We were unaware of the unofficial line and we responded magnificently as we mobilised to support more than 290 NHS trusts and hospitals.”

Arco won contracts but for just £14m, a fraction of the size of the deals handed out to firms with less experience in the field, MPs were told.

Suppliers also told MPs that there are millions of unused PPE products which have been bought by the government now in storage.

That will be the Guardians version of truth then?

people reading the op firstly need to stop and understand that the words ppe does not me a specific set of items, ppe actually covers a vast range of items and not every ppe item would have been suitable in use for the coronavirus. If anyone can remember news reports of ppe being held in government storage facilities, part of the governments backup plan for in case of emergencies, it was stated that not all the ppe could be used. Many of the gloves were not the right type, there are different types due to peoples allergic reaction to the gloves materials. Not all the masks were the right type for what was required, not all the gowns were the right type for what was required.

So yes there was ppe available but for the purposes of attacking the government, the word ppe is being used far to broadly.

thomas martin, the chairman of distributor arco, told mps that the company had been “frustrated” in attempts to supply the government with equipment despite more than a decade of experience in the field.

He told how the family-owned firm had about £40m worth of stock sitting in warehouses when the pandemic broke but had eventually been forced to deal with individual hospitals to get equipment out to frontline staff.

“we had approved certified products sitting in our warehouse in the uk, we have a team in china who have been there for over 11 years who actually run the quality assurance and the ethical training, so they were on the ground and we could even provide details and supply chains going forward for four or five months to government colleagues,” he said.

suppliers also told mps that there are millions of unused (and inappropriate) ppe products which have been bought by the government (from their cronies) now in storage.

Iain liddell, the managing director of uniserve, said his firm has supplied nearly half a million pallets (for those products), which are now stored in distribution centres run by the department of health and social care.

“i would say that there are 9,500 40ft [12-metre] containers … 450,000 pallets equivalent,” he said.