Module 5 Report – Easy Read

Covid-19 is a virus. It suddenly appeared in the UK in 2020. It spread very quickly.

It was a pandemic. This means that many people across the world became ill. Many people died.

The 4 governments of the UK had to make big decisions about how to protect people.

• UK Government
• Welsh Government
• Scottish Government
• Northern Ireland Executive

The Inquiry is finding out what happened during the pandemic.

This will help people to make better decisions in the future.

The Inquiry held hearings. At a hearing, we listen to people like politicians, doctors and scientists.

After the hearings, the Chair, Baroness Hallett, writes reports.

This Easy Read web page is about her report for Module 5.

This is an Easy Read version of the Covid-19 Inquiry’s 5th report.

The full report has a lot more information.

There are more versions in accessible formats.

You can get all the reports from the Covid-19 Inquiry website:

https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/

Module 5 is about how the UK bought and gave out healthcare equipment like:

• Face masks, gloves and aprons. We call this PPE.

• Ventilators to help people breathe

Ventilators are machines that help people breathe.

• Covid-19 testing kits and equipment.

Find more information about Module 5 on our website:

https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/news/inquiry-announces-fifth-report-publication-date-procurement-module-5/

Every country in the world needed PPE and healthcare equipment at the same time.

This made it very expensive and hard to get.

In the UK, we had some PPE and other equipment ready for a pandemic. But it was not enough.

The Inquiry has found that the UK was not ready to buy and give out all the equipment that people needed.

Things that did not work well

• Organisations that make, buy and give out PPE and healthcare equipment were not ready for a pandemic.

• Governments quickly created new ways to buy and give out PPE and equipment. But it often made things very complicated and slow.

• People who worked in the governments across the UK did not have enough skills or training to do their jobs well in an emergency.

• There wasn’t enough planning for buying and giving out healthcare equipment in a pandemic.

This is what happened

• The 4 governments of the UK made decisions about which companies to buy things from.

• The public did not trust these decisions.

• It took a long time for everyone to get the things they needed.

• Money was wasted on PPE and equipment that was not good enough to be used. About £10 billion was wasted.

Things that worked well

• The UK government found other countries to buy equipment from.

• Businesses in the UK worked well to:
  • Make PPE and other
    equipment
  • Get it to the places where it
    was needed

• Public organisations and businesses also worked well together.

Governments can learn from how this happened.

PPE Medpro Ltd

There is a chapter of the long Module 5 report which is about PPE Medpro Ltd.

PPE Medpro Ltd is a business that sold a lot of PPE during the pandemic.

The Inquiry cannot publish the chapter about PPE Medpro Ltd yet. The chapter may impact on possible criminal proceedings. We will publish that short part of the report when we can.

These are things governments must do to protect people in the future.

There are 11 recommendations in the long report. Here are 5 of them:

1. Find new ways to organise how we buy and give out healthcare equipment.

A way of organising things is called a system. The new systems need to be strong and reliable.

2. Make a plan about how we will make and buy healthcare equipment.

This should include buying things from other countries and buying things that are made in the UK.

3. Use technology to help with making, buying and giving out PPE and other equipment.

The technology should be used across the UK.

4. Our pandemic supplies.

Make sure we have enough PPE and other equipment stored, to cope with another pandemic.

5. Tell the public more about what is happening, and how decisions are made.

This will help people to trust that governments are doing the right thing.

Baroness Hallett is the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

She listened to all the hearings then wrote the recommendations.

She expects that all the recommendations will be done by the Governments across the UK.

She will check to make sure this is happening.

There will be 5 more reports:

Module 6: The care sector

Module 7: Test, trace and isolate

Module 8: Children and young people

Module 9: The economic response

Module 10: The impact on society

If you want to find out more, please go to this website

https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/

Thank you for reading our report.