Alex Bourne - who used to run a pub near Matt Hancock's old constituency home in West Suffolk (see photo above) - made vials for Covid testing through his firm Hinpack, which had no history of medical goods.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed it is now investigating the company. The MHRA said it took "all reports of non-compliance very seriously".

Apparently, Mr Bourne had offered his services to the government via a personal WhatsApp message to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, saying they had known each other for years. The businessman has said that messages had been exchanged between the pair over several months.

Asked about it at a Downing Street press conference in December, Mr Hancock said: "I had absolutely nothing to do with that contract *."

Labour's Rachel Reeves said the inquiry into Mr Bourne's company was "extremely worrying", adding: "The reasons for handing this contract out in the first place must be investigated and shared in the public interest".

Director of devices at the MHRA, Graeme Tunbridge, said he could not disclose why the company was being investigated as the inquiry was ongoing. But in a statement, he said: "We are currently investigating the allegations about Hinpack and will take appropriate action as necessary. Patient safety is our top priority."

A firm is being investigated by the UK medical regulator after it was awarded a £30,000,000 contract during the pandemic.
Of course, it could be sheer coincidence .....

Piers Morgan was embroiled in a fiery row with vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi MP on Monday as the minister refused to condemn Matt Hancock or admit there were PPE shortages at the start of the pandemic.

Health secretary Matt Hancock was found to have "acted unlawfully" when giving out contracts for PPE, and shortages were such that doctors were pictured wearing binbags as they were not given sufficient protection.

Mr Zahawi denied there were shortages even when confronted with these images, which infuriated Piers.

"It was tight, it was difficult," said Mr Zahawi. "The NAO looked at this, no health trust went without."

Piers shot back: "The health secretary has stated, as fact, that there was never a national shortage of PPE. The reason he broke the law on revealing details of the contracts, was because he was working so hard to avoid a national shortage of PPE, to which I say that is a shameful lie - there was a grotesque shortage of PPE. The health secretary lied, didn't he, when he said there was no national shortage?"

Mr Zahawi responded with: "The NAO looked at this, and I have to accept their report that said no health trust went without the PPE that they needed. Whereas other countries, you know Piers because you reported on it, had a real problem with PPE."

Piers interjected: "I'm sorry, we had a massive problem with PPE. In fact, don't take my word for it, take the word of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister at PMQs on the 6th of May 2020, 'Its been enraging to see the difficulties we've had in supplying PPE to those who need it'," Piers then listed other ministers who also admitted the shortage.

He added: "We didn't have enough PPE that's why people were wearing binliners and so many people died on the front line, you refuse to admit when you got it wrong! We know we were not prepared without enough PPE, why don't you just admit it!?"

Piers got angrier and angrier as Mr Zahawi refused to say that there had been a shortage and dodged the question.

"It is completely unacceptable that he broke the law on his contracts, and has refused to apologised, and is claiming there was no national shortage."

The Health Secretary appeared live on Good Morning Britain to discuss the government's new plans to ease the lockdown in England - and claimed there had never been a 'national shortage' of PPE. Matt Hancock claimed that while some areas were hit with lack of PPE locally, "thanks to his team" they were able to avoid a national outage.

Piers and Susanna challenged him over his claims there wasn't a PPE shortage nationally but Hancock maintained: "There were areas where it was enormously challenging. There were areas where there were problems, but we never had a national outage of it. We were very close to that, but we didn’t have a national outage of PPE. He added: "There were shortages locally, there was no national shortage because of the work my team did. I back them 100%."

Piers accused him of telling a barefaced lie by claiming they'd avoided a shortage in PPE.

As Hancock suggested the team should be applauded for their work that "saved lives", Piers raged over the UK death total from coronavirus, which is currently reported to be over 120,000: "You and your team have resided over a woeful handling of this pandemic that has led to us having the worst death toll in Europe."

Sun 3 May 2020 06.00 BST

The British Medical Association said that while PPE supplies have improved, their data from more than 16,000 doctors in England shows there is room for improvement in protecting healthcare workers on the frontline.

The organisation said its latest survey is the biggest one of frontline NHS staff during the coronavirus crisis.

It said almost a third (30%) of doctors who were questioned said they had not reported or spoken out about issues relating to PPE, staff shortages, testing or drug shortages because they did not think anything would be done about it if they did.

Asked how safely protected from coronavirus they felt at work, nearly two-thirds (65%) said they felt only partly or not at all protected. Overall, 48% of doctors reported having bought PPE directly for themselves or their department, or had a donation from a charity or local firm.

The problem appeared to be higher among GPs, with 55% of them saying they had to do so, compared to 38% of hospital doctors. More than a quarter (28%) of doctors said they were suffering depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, emotional distress or other mental health conditions related to or made worse by work during this time.

BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the survey response on PPE was “a damning indictment of the government’s abject failure to make sure healthcare workers across the country are being supplied with the life-saving kit they should be”.

Nagpaul said: “The survey shows that overall, there has been an improvement in the provision of PPE, but if almost half of all doctors report that they had to resort to purchasing PPE themselves or rely on donations, then there is still a lot for the Government to do to protect its frontline.”

Doctors responding to the survey were also given space to leave a comment. One said the situation with PPE had been “an outrage for all staff”, another admitted to feeling “very unprotected”, and another said they were “coping” but added “it’s a worrying time on the frontline, no NHS eye protection and only flimsy aprons and cheap surgical masks”.

Nagpaul said: “The government has five tests it has said must be met to ease lockdown, the first of which is ‘making sure the NHS can cope’. Six weeks into this crisis, how can the government be confident that this condition is anywhere near being met, or that the pandemic is under control, when the very people on the frontline are not being made safe?”

Speaking at the Downing Street briefing on Thursday, Boris Johnson acknowledged the difficulties in getting sufficient PPE, but he said those responsible for tackling the problems were “throwing everything at it, heart and soul, night and day, to get it right”.

The Department of Health told the BBC there are 12 million of these masks either in use or in hospital stores and has told staff to stop using them. Distribution of some gloves has also been suspended because they may not meet technical requirements.

Its warning concerns a specific brand of FFP3 mask, which are more sophisticated than surgical masks and are worn in intensive care or when certain procedures are carried out that can generate aerosols. These are tiny virus particles that can build up in stuffy rooms and have been linked to outbreaks of Covid-19.

The Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) alert last week warned that a certain type of FFP3 - branded "Fang Tian" and marked as FT-045 - may not meet the required technical specifications. It advised health and care providers to check to see if their stock included the product and to stop using them until further investigation.

The alert said the masks were provided by Polyco Healthline, but the manufacturer Suzhou Fangtian Industries told the BBC it had never supplied the firm. The BBC has approached Polyco Healthline for comment but has not heard back.

The DHSC told BBC News the affected 12 million masks was a very small proportion of its overall stocks. These masks make up approximately 4% of its overall stock, the department said, and about 1.7% of the masks used every day. A spokesman said there was a "resilient supply" of FFP3 masks to ensure staff had access to the PPE they needed.

Rob Harwood, BMA consultants committee chairman, said it was "unacceptable if staff's safety is still being jeopardised by inadequate PPE" a year into the pandemic.

"Healthcare staff working on the frontline do so facing the grave risk of contracting Covid, and deserve the best protection from this deadly virus," he said. "Many will be incredibly concerned to learn that some masks designed to offer enhanced protection, as well as gloves, may not meet standards, potentially placing them at greater risk."

BBC News has been investigating the purchase of PPE for NHS staff since the beginning of the pandemic. It has previously revealed how millions of face masks bought by the UK government could not be used in the NHS as intended.

Millions of high-grade NHS masks withdrawn over safety concerns

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56167916



These "inadequate PPE" reports are mounting - billions of pounds wasted funding the factories of "friends of friends" .....