Lots of noise (again) about PPE this morning. Some personal observations:

1) Some people’s definitions of ‘PPE’ are very tenuous.

2) Supplier claims are often overstated. For example, suppliers claiming to have immediate stock - cannot actually deliver product until JUNE.

3) Proforma payments - Suppliers requesting payment upfront before shipping from China etc. This isn’t PayPal folks - you can’t just raise a ticket if/when your stuff doesn’t arrive; or doesn’t arrive until November.

It’s effectively gambling with taxpayer funded finances.

4) Capacity - Some suppliers offering to supply face masks and gowns etc have agreements in place with foreign suppliers to buy manufacturing capacity for one calendar year.

What are they doing to do with the other 3/6/9 months of stock?!

5) Quality - Massive risk buying from unknown and untested suppliers. Do you really want to gamble staff welfare if you can’t be 100% certain of the product quality? What specification does it conform to? (If any).

Of course there is huge sensationalism out there at the moment. But something that seems too good to be true, generally is.