Official Statistics

Experimental statistics – personal protective equipment distributed for use by health and social care services in England: 28 December 2020 to 3 January 2021

Published 5 January 2021

Applies to England

These statistics show the latest number of personal protective equipment (PPE) items which have been distributed for use by health and social care services in England by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

In publishing this data, we aim to provide a regular summary for ministers, policy makers and external stakeholders on PPE items distributed. DHSC intends to release these statistics weekly while they remain relevant to the government’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Main points

In the 7 days to 3 January 2021, DHSC distributed over 266 million PPE items for use by health and social care services in England through the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel, NHS Supply Chain and other routes^{[footnote 1]}.

Since 25 February 2020, DHSC has distributed over 6.7 billion PPE items for use by health and social care services in England in this manner. This includes over 333 million items of PPE authorised for release to designated wholesalers for onward sale to GPs (40 million), adult social care providers (255 million), community pharmacies (1.2 million) and dentists (37 million)^{[footnote 2]}, as well as over 225 million items of PPE to local resilience forums.

Since 14 September 2020 over 67 million items of PPE have also been distributed to local authorities that no longer use local resilience forums^{[footnote 3]}.

This compares with approximately 2.43 billion items distributed between 1 January and 31 December 2019 to all NHS trusts and some social care organisations. This figure is a partial snapshot of the PPE used in the system before COVID-19 pandemic. The NHS Supply Chain has since been expanded to 58,000 different settings, including care homes, hospices and community care organisations.

The current reporting system has been in place since 25 February 2020. It is estimated that between 1 January and 24 February 2020, approximately 326 million items of PPE were distributed. This data was collected before the current reporting system was in place, so data quality is uncertain. For further detail see table 2.

Table 1: number of PPE items distributed for use by health and social care services by item, England^{[footnote 4] [footnote 5]}

PPE item	Latest week of data (28 Dec 2020 to 3 Jan 2021)	Cumulative total (25 Feb 2020 to 3 Jan 2021)	Previous year (1 Jan to 31 Dec 2019)
Aprons	29,586,000	946,016,000	161,632,000
Body bags	2,000	270,000	85,000
Cleaning equipment	0	81,730,000	383,663,000
Clinical waste bags	727,000	59,642,000	49,508,000
Clinical waste containers	0	75,000	305,000
Coveralls	12,000	824,000	0
Eye protectors	4,276,000	72,223,000	482,000
Face mask FFP2	22,000	9,462,000	523,000
Face mask FFP3	1,751,000	57,769,000	2,810,000
Face mask IIR	35,127,000	992,734,000	18,532,000
Face mask - other	3,000	1,085,000	0
Face mask - type II	1,000	10,001,000	0
Fit test kits	0	13,000	0
Fit test solutions	0	119,000	7,000
General purpose detergent	526,000	57,260,000	37,700,000
Gloves	188,525,000	4,215,661,000	1,763,164,000
Gowns	1,365,000	21,503,000	749,000
Hand hygiene	290,000	16,407,000	2,048,000
Paper towels	0	1,700,000	10,215,000
Swabs	4,184,000	221,669,000	1,006,000
Other items	0	616,000	7,000
Total	266,397,000	6,766,780,000	2,432,435,000

The data include all types of PPE, items that are critical for infection control^{[footnote 6]} and a small number of other fast-moving items^{[footnote 7]}. These items were made available through NHS Supply Chain during the COVID-19 pandemic because there was a significant increase in usage. Some of these items were not available through NHS Supply Chain in 2019.

Unless specified, all items are counted individually^{[footnote 8]}. For example, gloves are not counted as pairs and are delivered in boxes of 200 as single items. Clinical procedures may use 1, 2 or 4 gloves at a time.

Measuring the data

How the data was collected

The data is collected from management information provided by Supply Chain Coordination Limited (NHS Supply Chain) since 25 February 2020. DHSC receives this data daily from NHS Supply Chain, which since April 2020 has been compiled by Clipper.

Since April 2020 all products are distributed by Clipper and stored in a central warehouse in Daventry before delivery. Prior to April 2020 some items were distributed from the NHS Supply Chain Regional Distribution Centres.

The data is reported by the date of delivery. This covers all PPE items delivered within a 24-hour window from 2am on the date in question to 2am the next day.

Items are sometimes recalled, such as when they are faulty or do not meet set criteria. The figures presented are a combination of the number of PPE items distributed minus those recalled and credits for stock that was processed through the system but unfulfilled.

Consequently, some days have negative delivery of items. Some items that have been recalled may still feature in the data as they are yet to be removed.

The data is not a measure of PPE use as some items may not be used, while reusable items may be used multiple times.

The figures in this bulletin may differ from those previously quoted due to differences in start date and inclusion of items in the definition of PPE.

Coverage

The data covers PPE distributed for use by health and social care services in England only.

The data includes deliveries from the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel to organisations such as NHS trusts, National Supply Distribution Response, local resilience forums, local authorities and wholesalers for onward distribution and use by health and social care providers. These organisations may also procure PPE through other routes, so this data does not constitute all PPE available to NHS trusts, social care and primary care providers.

Quality

These statistics have been put together by DHSC with advice from NHS Supply Chain and the Office for National Statistics on this approach.

More information on quality and how this publication adheres to the Code of Practice for Statistics is available in the statement of compliance.

Future development

DHSC intends to release these statistics weekly while they remain relevant to the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The timeline below provides an indication of key developments in DHSC’s understanding of this data.

Table 2: key dates in DHSC’s reporting of PPE deliveries data

Date range	Developments in data understanding
1 Jan 2020 to 24 Feb 2020	Data on these deliveries was collected on an ad hoc basis. Data quality is uncertain.
25 Feb 2020	Introduction of the current reporting system for data on distributions of PPE.
25 Feb 2020 to June 2020	Regular and rigorous quality checks are implemented as understanding of the data grows. Timeliness of the data improves as frequency of updates increases to 7 days per week.
30 June 2020	Publication of DHSC’s first experimental statistics on distributions of PPE. High-level data is now well understood and is subject to regular and rigorous quality checks.
Future developments	Depending on interest and demand, we will review the frequency of updates and consider releasing more detailed iterations of these experimental statistics.

Experimental statistics

Given the commitment of DHSC to be open and transparent with the public it serves, this data is being released as experimental statistics. DHSC has received requests for data on the distribution of PPE, such as Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and other queries.

This data is experimental statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed. These figures have not been used for statistical purposes before.

Find out more about experimental statistics from the Governmental Statistics Service (GSS).

For feedback and questions about the release, please contact [email protected].

1. This figure includes a small proportion of items distributed to devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies who have also procured additional PPE independently of these routes. Data on PPE distributed in Wales has been published by the Welsh Government. Data on PPE distributed in Northern Ireland has been published by the Health and Social Care Northern Ireland Business Services Organisation. ↩

2. The release of PPE to designated wholesalers has been put on pause from 12 December 2020 until 15 January 2021. ↩

3. A small proportion of items (22.8 million) are also distributed to other government departments. ↩

4. All numbers in the tables and the text are rounded to the nearest thousand. Due to rounding, the table totals may not equal the sum of the columns. ↩

5. Details of face mask types are as follows: FFP2 face masks have a minimum of 94% filtration percentage and a maximum of 8% leakage to the inside. FFP3 face masks have a minimum filtration of 99% and a maximum leakage of 2% to the inside. Type IIR face masks are medical face masks made up of a 4-ply construction and include a splash resistant layer to protect against blood and other bodily fluids. Other face masks include all other types of face masks and face masks awaiting categorisation. Some of these may be categorised as either FFP2, FFP3, IIR or type II in subsequent publications of these data. ↩

6. Items that are critical for infection control include cleaning equipment, coveralls, detergents, hand hygiene products, paper towels and swabs. ↩

7. Other items distributed at irregular intervals in small volumes include fast-moving items that have been requested such as surgical caps, overshoes, oximeters and transparent face masks. These are not included in the COVID-19 PPE guidance. ↩

8. Paper towels are counted in sleeves of 250 single sheets. ↩