The issue with PPE from my perspective, as a private provider, is that the Govt told us they would be making drops at every service in the early days of this crisis - and that simply didn't happen; some got a delivery, but it was a pathetically small amount - but most didn't. The procurement helpline they provided us either rings out, or has no stock. And to be clear - I'm not looking for freebies - I was quite happy to pay market rates - but they just didn't have it in the way they described - and having spoken to other providers, they have had the same experience. So on that basis, the whole care sector was behind the curve with PPE, because the Govt made early commitments that it couldn't meet - and still hasn't.

More recently, they've partnered with Ebay to provide the NHS PPE website - which is meant to be our one stop shop for all things PPE; 10 days post-launch, it's an absolute shambles. It doesn't work properly and just puts you in an infinite loop of registering - placing an order - registering - placing an order and never actually getting to confirmation. It's a joke.

I'm now buying PPE directly from a supplier who is shipping it in from China - and I'm paying about 4x what I would usually pay; my PPE bill is currently at £100k, and that will continue to rise at c£30k per month for as long as this goes on. The Govt claim to have provided £1.7 billion to LA's for 'resilience payments' to care providers to offset some of this cost - not a penny has reached the front line yet, and some LA's are offering just 1%; others are offering payment on production of fully evidenced accounts to demonstrate our additional costs - which is of course just what we need at a time like this.

Meanwhile, the Govt looks us in the eye and lies about the EU procurement scheme - with some 'missing email' cockamamy story that you would expect from the work experience kid at the office, but not from a Govt Minister.

Party politics aside, we've handled this really badly - our death toll per head of population will be amongst the highest in the world, and even now, we're still not accounting properly for deaths in non-hospital settings; care homes alone will probably add 20% to the total in one go when they finally get around to including them - and significant numbers of those deaths were unnecessary and preventable; we lost 2 weeks of preparedness due to the 'herd immunity' strategy, which is fast being revealed as a eugenicist fantasy with no basis in scientific fact, particularly given that there is still no evidence that immunity comes post-infection.

It's a tragedy - and for those of us on the front line, the sharp end is way worse than the daily press briefings would have you believe.

How do you police a stricter 'lockdown' though? Did you see the pics the other day of the 'plane full of passengers, commercial flights are still happening, albeit on a very limited basis, as are bus, trains etc. Are you suggesting a curfew, can that be policed? Are you suggesting every single person's shopping checked, then non essential items put back on the shelf? What is essential food? Some people have medical conditions that require a certain diet, would they have to prove this to someone in a supermarket? Where does the manpower come from? As the mantra has been, stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives, they are asking people to do this, not telling, because realistically they simply can't control 60 million peoples daily movements can they.

That's very true and you make a good point, but......what about the 'unnecessary' deaths of people who followed the stay at home message and didn't seek medical help at a hospital and sadly died as a result? Gps are apparently crying out for people to contact them and the NHS generally for non covid conditions?! Care homes are basically breeding grounds for bacteria and germs, I know because my partner used to work in one, why weren't some of those residents transferred to a nightingale hospital within their locality, then maybe some more lives could have been saved??

Tories greed ? You mean reduction in spending tax payers money, that will eventually have to paid back ?

Wow just wow what a political statement so whats the options then?

FFS am I going to have to shut this one too? It really isn't needed.
Over 30,000 people have died in this country and you are arguing whether we should call it a lockdown or social distancing. Get a grip.