Stopping weekly audits of personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory after a pandemic has started has to be one of the dumbest things the Government has done, says National’s health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti

“Surely the most important time to assess PPE is when it is needed during a pandemic, yet this is exactly when Andrew Little stopped counting.

“The proposition that, if the Government hasn’t heard from a district health board for a while, a check is then done to see how they are doing for PPE is the most amateurish logistics chain one can imagine. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

“Andrew Little has no idea how much PPE is in DHBs right now, which runs the risk of going the same way as ICU beds, negative pressure rooms and hospital visitor policy – too little, too late, until urgency swamps them.

“He needs to do an immediate stocktake and restart weekly PPE inventory audits.”

Reply 51242 (2021) has been answered to Dr Shane Reti 16 Nov 2021
Portfolio: Health (Hon Andrew Little)

Question: Further to 38604(2021) what were the weekly audits of DHB PPE inventory from 1 August 2021 to the present, listed per week in the same format as 38604?

Reply: Since the delta outbreak, officials have not been auditing district health boards (DHBs) stock levels. Rather, they respond directly to orders placed for PPE and seek clarification with DHBs directly if orders are not placed regularly by DHBs for PPE items.

You can find an example of previously undertaken weekly audits here.