Picture caption Masks despatched to Birmi
Masks despatched to Birmingham Metropolis Council have had use-by dates of 2014
A council has requested for presidency reassurance {that a} provide of private protecting gear for employees on the entrance line towards Covid-19 is secure, regardless of being six years outdated.
Birmingham Metropolis Council stated it acquired a supply in April of about 4,000 masks with 2014 use-by dates.
The authority claims an extra provide was despatched to it with plain stickers overlaying the 2014 date with a 2019 one.
A minister overseeing PPE would reply to the council, the federal government stated.
It has additionally emerged extra of the identical FFP3 masks have been despatched out up to now two weeks, bringing to 16,000 the whole variety of masks the council has in inventory however stated it couldn’t use.
‘Extreme implications’
In a letter to housing minister Chris Pincher, who has been co-ordinating the federal government’s efforts to produce native authorities with PPE, council chief Ian Ward stated it was first made conscious of a possible problem with the masks on 22 April.
The Labour-controlled authority had since then been asking “each day” for written affirmation of their security from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities and the Division of Well being and Social Care, he added.
Mr Ward stated it was “extremely regarding” the federal government had failed to take action, regardless of the “extreme implications” of it not offering assurances – particularly that the council had solely “a couple of” days’ provide of useable FFP3 masks left to distribute.
He wrote: “Our main goal is to guard the well being and security of people who might have PPE. We is not going to jeopardise their security by releasing probably ineffectual, date-expired inventory.”
His letter stated if the gear had been examined “a transparent, documented audit path must be available”.
Mr Ward stated: “It’s fairly frankly outrageous that we’re having to chase the federal government on this problem.
“These employees, which are placing themselves in hurt’s means to assist the town get via this disaster, shouldn’t be put at even larger danger with the provision of probably faulty PPE.
“Please can we obtain the ministry’s pressing written assurance that our present inventory of date-expired PPE is secure to make use of?”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities advised the BBC Mr Pincher could be “responding to the letter sooner or later”.
A Division of Well being and Social Care spokesperson stated: “All deliveries of PPE are checked to make sure the gear meets the protection and high quality requirements to guard our front-line employees.”
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