50 million NHS masks rejected over safety concerns

It has been revealed that 50 million face masks bought by the government in April will not be used in the NHS because of safety concerns.

Purchased for healthcare workers from supplier Ayanda Capital as part of a £252 million contract, the government has conceded that the masks, which use ear-loop fastenings rather than head loops, may not fit tightly enough.

The most expensive part of the order consisted of 50 million FFP2 respirator masks, which are designed to protect healthcare workers from inhaling harmful particles. To be effective these types of face mask need to fit tightly to create a seal between the mask and the wearer's face, with anyone who wears them for work required to undergo a face fit test.

Ayanda says the masks meet the specifications the government had set out. It is not clear what will happen now to the 50 million masks.

Ayanda Capital also supplied 150 million Type IIR masks, which the government says are unaffected. Most have now been delivered but they have not yet been released for use in the NHS and are awaiting further testing.

The NHS experienced severe shortages of personal protective equipment in its early response to the coronavirus pandemic and saw a number of ‘quick’ attempts to counter the issue fail. At the start of May it was revealed that approximately 400,000 surgical gowns ordered from Turkey to help frontline health staff tackle coronavirus in UK hospitals did not meet British safety standards, and were consequently returned.

In related news, it has also been revealed that the person who originally approached the government about the deal was a government trade adviser who also advises the board of Ayanda. He maintains that his position played no part in the awarding of the contract.

The Good Law Project, which is seeking to challenge the government in the courts over three PPE contracts it awarded, including Ayanda Capital’s, has recently argued that government's awarding of contracts directly to companies during the pandemic, rather than opening them to competition, may have been unlawful.

Jolyon Maugham, the Good Law Project's director, said: “It's taken this extraordinary sum of public funds and wasted it on PPE that it itself says cannot be released for use in the NHS because it's not safe. We do think that it's important that the court take a look at these contracts, that it declare them to be unlawful and that there be full transparency of how these staggering amounts of public money have been spent."