Stopping weekly audits of personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory after a pandemic has started has to be one of the dumbest things the Government has done, says National’s health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti.

“Surely the most important time to assess PPE is when it is needed during a pandemic, yet this is exactly when Andrew Little stopped counting.

“The proposition that, if the Government hasn’t heard from a district health board for a while, a check is then done to see how they are doing for PPE is the most amateurish logistics chain one can imagine. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

“Andrew Little has no idea how much PPE is in DHBs right now, which runs the risk of going the same way as ICU beds, negative pressure rooms and hospital visitor policy – too little, too late, until urgency swamps them.

“He needs to do an immediate stocktake and restart weekly PPE inventory audits.”

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