Official Statistics

Experimental statistics – personal protective equipment distributed for use by health and social care services in England: 1 March to 7 March 2021

Published 9 March 2021

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.

In publishing this data, we aim to provide a regular summary for ministers, policy makers and external stakeholders on PPE items distributed. The Department of Health and Social Care (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 7 March 2021, DHSC distributed over 202 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.

Since 25 February 2020 DHSC has distributed over 9.0 billion items of PPE, predominantly for use by health and social care services in England. This figure also includes:

• over 337 million items of PPE authorised for release to designated wholesalers^{[footnote 1]} for onward sale to GPs (40 million), adult social care providers (258 million), community pharmacies (1.2 million) and dentists (38 million). This data has been reported by the date of delivery to the wholesaler
• over 281 million items of PPE to local resilience forums (LRFs)
• over 101 million items of PPE to local authorities that have taken over the role of LRFs, in areas where LRFs have stood down from 14 September 2020
• over 25 million items of PPE to public services overseen by other government departments and organisations. This includes PPE distributed to Public Health England, MOD Medical Service, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
• over 13 million items of PPE provided to the devolved administrations between April and June 2020^{[footnote 2]}. This data has been ratified by the devolved administrations
• a small proportion of items distributed to Crown Dependencies

Organisations may procure additional PPE independently of these routes. Any additional PPE is not included in this data.

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 the 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, predominantly for use by health and social care services in England, by item^{[footnote 3] [footnote 4]}

PPE item	Latest week of data (1 Mar to 7 Mar 2021)	Cumulative total (25 Feb 2020 to 7 Mar 2021)	Previous year (1 Jan to 31 Dec 2019)
Aprons	31,553,000	1,281,634,000	161,632,000
Body bags	1,000	303,000	85,000
Cleaning equipment	0	81,730,000	383,663,000
Clinical waste bags	970,000	68,384,000	49,508,000
Clinical waste containers	0	75,000	305,000
Coveralls	22,000	1,090,000	0
Eye protectors	2,153,000	106,292,000	482,000
Face mask FFP2	58,000	11,889,000	523,000
Face mask FFP3	2,233,000	89,388,000	2,810,000
Face mask IIR	24,674,000	1,291,821,000	18,532,000
Face mask – other	0	1,085,000	0
Face mask – type II	20,000	10,657,000	0
Fit test kits	1,000	20,000	0
Fit test solutions	1,000	141,000	7,000
General purpose detergent	1,011,000	66,549,000	37,700,000
Gloves	135,934,000	5,725,099,000	1,763,164,000
Gowns	1,507,000	39,229,000	749,000
Hand hygiene	227,000	20,118,000	2,048,000
Paper towels	0	1,700,000	10,215,000
Swabs	2,353,000	299,754,000	1,006,000
Other items	0	616,000	7,000
Total	202,718,000	9,097,575,000	2,432,435,000

The data reported in Table 1 includes all types of PPE, items that are critical for infection control^{[footnote 5]} and a small number of other fast-moving items^{[footnote 6]}. 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 7]}. 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. Hand hygiene products are counted per bottle (or similar) and include hand wash and alcohol-based hand sanitiser.

Measuring the data

How the data was collected

The data was 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 have 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.

Data is reported by the date of delivery, which covers all PPE items delivered within a 24-hour window from 2am on the date in question to 2am the next day. Some organisations subsequently further distribute the PPE. For these organisations, the date used is the date of delivery from DHSC to the organisation and not the date of subsequent delivery to the end user. 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 which 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 predominantly for use by health and social care services in England.

The data includes deliveries from the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel to organisations such as NHS trusts, National Supply Distribution Response, LRFs, 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 these 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 were 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 the 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.
7 Feb 2021	Reporting of LRF and local authority PPE distribution data was updated to include ad hoc deliveries, and deliveries to the London LRF from 14 September 2020.
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 statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

1. There has been no change to the number of PPE items released to designated wholesalers in recent weeks as there have been no sales events between DHSC and wholesalers since the week ending 24 January 2021. ↩

2. Data on PPE distributed in Wales has been published by the Welsh Government. Data on PPE distributed in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government. Data on PPE distributed in Northern Ireland has been published by the Health and Social Care Northern Ireland Business Services Organisation. ↩

3. 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. ↩

4. 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. ↩

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

6. 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. ↩

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