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Experimental statistics

Jan 07, 2024Jan 07, 2024

Published 12 January 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ppe-distribution-england-quarterly-update-to-31-december-2022/experimental-statistics-personal-protective-equipment-distributed-for-use-by-health-and-social-care-services-in-england-quarterly-update-to-31-dece

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

In publishing this data, we aim to provide a regular summary for ministers, policymakers, external stakeholders and the public on PPE items distributed. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) intends to release these statistics regularly while they remain relevant to the government's response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

e-Portal order data is now being used as the sole data source for all e-Portal data throughout this publication.

The next update will be issued in April 2023 on the second Thursday of the month. We expect quarterly publications will fully meet the needs of users as PPE distribution patterns are now relatively stable over time.

From 25 February 2020 to 31 December 2022, DHSC distributed 25.2 billion items of PPE, predominantly for use by health and social care services in England.

In the first full year of operations (from 25 February 2020 to 24 February 2021), 8.50 billion items of PPE were distributed predominantly for use by health and social care services in England.

This compares with approximately 2.04 billion items distributed between 1 January 2019 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, many of which use the e-Portal to order PPE.

Between 1 October and 31 December 2022, DHSC distributed 1.98 billion PPE items for use by health and social care services in England. These are distributed through the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel, NHS Supply Chain and other routes (see table 1 for more details).

PPE was first ordered through the e-Portal on 9 April 2020. From 9 April 2020 to 31 December 2022, 9.66 billion PPE items have been ordered through the e-Portal.

Between 1 October and 31 December 2022, 908 million PPE items have been ordered through the e-Portal.

Organisations may procure additional PPE independently of the PPE programme. Any additional PPE is not included in this data.

In the tables below all items are counted individually unless specified. In particular:

Table 1 reports the PPE distribution for the latest 3 calendar months and the total since the start of the PPE programme. The cumulative total is reported as a total for the first year of operation (25 February 2020 to 24 February 2021) and a total for the whole period since 25 February 2020.

Table 1: number of PPE items distributed, predominantly for use by health and social care services in England, by item

The data reported in table 1 includes all types of PPE, items that are critical for infection control[footnote 1] [footnote 2] and a small number of transparent face masks.[footnote 3] 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. All numbers in table 1 are rounded to the nearest thousand, unless they are less than 1,000 in which case they are rounded to the nearest hundred. Due to rounding, the table totals may not equal the sum of the columns.

The PPE programme distributes some PPE directly, such as to NHS hospitals. Alternative distribution channels are available for other sectors in health and social care, particularly when PPE requirements are smaller. The total statistics reported include PPE delivered using all these channels, which include:

Table 2: number of PPE items distributed using the channels described[footnote 4]

The e-Portal provides PPE to non-acute settings, predominantly primary care and social care providers. An eligible user is invited to register an account on the e-Portal and is then able to order PPE regularly, up to a given limit, using that account.

Table 3: key dates in e-Portal operations

The total amount of PPE which is provided through the e-Portal will be influenced by both the number of accounts registered and the amount which each account orders.

Registration is voluntary: on 31 December 2022, there were 51,092 providers registered on the e-Portal, out of 63,028 invited to register.[footnote 5]

Registration on the e-Portal includes information about each account holder. Table 4 reports the sector of the account holder for PPE items ordered on the e-Portal in the latest calendar month, and the total since the first order on the e-Portal, on 9 April 2020.

Table 4: number of PPE items ordered using the e-Portal, by sector[footnote 6] [footnote 7]

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

Umbrella organisations are predominantly adult domiciliary care or adult residential care. The category ‘Other’ includes orders where the sector of the account holder is not noted. We are working to improve these classifications where possible.

The e-Portal makes available a selection of different types of PPE. The total orders of PPE by sector and by item type are included in the accompanying tables. The distribution of PPE via the e-Portal will not represent the total PPE provided to a sector through the lifetime of the programme. Organisations which join the e-Portal are likely to have previously procured PPE using other distribution channels. Organisations may also procure PPE independently of the PPE programme. Any additional PPE is not included in this data, which shows only the PPE ordered using the e-Portal.

PPE has been supplied predominantly for use by health and social care services in England. A small amount has been made available to other sectors, including:

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, has been compiled by Clipper Logistics, who have distributed all PPE since April 2020.

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

Data for the whole programme 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 up 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.

Clipper Logistics deliver PPE from the main PPE warehouses to the e-Portal warehouses, from which the e-Portal team process the e-Portal orders before delivery. The total delivery data from Clipper reports items by the date of delivery to the e-Portal warehouses. In contrast, the e-Portal data uses the calendar date the order was placed on the e-Portal. Care should be taken when interpreting the relative dates of Clipper delivery and e-Portal orders.

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.

The data covers PPE distributed predominantly for use by health and social care services in England. From 1 February 2022 recycled PPE has been removed from the distribution statistics. We are exploring whether it is possible to present this information separately.

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 and other users of the e-Portal. 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.

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.

DHSC intends to release these statistics regularly while they remain relevant to the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Future updates will be issued quarterly, on the second Thursday of the first month of the quarter.

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

Table 5: key dates in DHSC's reporting of PPE deliveries data

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.

These experimental statistics are undergoing continual evaluation and development. 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].

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 this data. ↩

Items that are critical for infection control include cleaning equipment, coveralls, detergents, hand hygiene products and swabs. Paper towels are no longer included as they are not deemed specifically relevant to the COVID-19 PPE response. ↩

Transparent face masks are fast-moving items that are distributed at irregular intervals in small volumes. These are not included in the National infection prevention and control manual for England. ↩

The total volume of PPE shipped to local authorities and local resilience forums (LRFs), has increased more than usual since the last publication. This is because an issue in processing the data which generates the total volumes has now been resolved. ↩

The ‘invited’ numbers have dropped since the last publication. This decrease is down to operational work carried out by the Portal team to remove inactive e-Portal customers from the register. The total number of health and social care providers invited to use the e-Portal has not decreased. ↩

Between 30 March 2022 and 6 April 2022, we were unable to access the e-Portal data which classifies the customer type of the customer making an order, due to technical issues. Where customer information is not available, these have been classified under the ‘Other’ customer type which has resulted in an increase in the ‘Other’ customer category for March and April 2022 compared to previous months. ↩

Since the July 2022 publication, there have been improvements to the way we classify a small number of e-Portal orders between January and March 2021. ↩

The PPE distribution figures to each devolved administration from DHSC can be found in table 3 of the accompanying spreadsheet. For further information about the devolved administrations’ PPE programmes, 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, and data on PPE distributed in Wales has been published by the Welsh Government. ↩