{"id":167001,"date":"2022-11-17T18:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=167001"},"modified":"2022-11-17T18:03:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:03:29","slug":"firm-forced-to-pay-70m-after-supplying-nhs-with-faulty-ppe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/firm-forced-to-pay-70m-after-supplying-nhs-with-faulty-ppe\/","title":{"rendered":"Firm forced to pay \u00a370m after supplying NHS with faulty PPE"},"content":{"rendered":"
A pest firm has been forced to pay \u00a370million after supplying the NHS with faulty masks and gowns at the height of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Pestfix employed just 16 people and had net assets of \u00a318,000 when the virus struck, but it was awarded \u00a3350million of contracts to supply PPE.<\/p>\n
The family-owned company won the lucrative deal after its chair met the Government procurement director at his father-in-law\u2019s 80th birthday party.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s deal was accelerated via the \u2018VIP\u2019 lane, which gave special treatment offered to firms with contacts in Government.<\/p>\n
Now Pestfix has paid a \u00a370million settlement to the Department of Health for defective PPE following mediation.<\/p>\n
The payout, first reported in Private Eye, is the first major win for ministers battling to recoup cash lost in the pandemic, but it is still a tiny proportion of the \u00a32.7billion of outstanding disputed deals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pestfix has been ordered to pay \u00a370million after supplying the NHS with faulty masks and gowns at the height of the pandemic<\/p>\n
PestFix landed the massive contracts after director Joe England met the Department for Health and Social Care\u2019s (DHSC) chief commercial officer, Steve Oldfield, at the 80th birthday party of Mr Oldfield\u2019s father-in-law.<\/p>\n
A Deloitte consultant, assisting the Government with Covid PPE procurement, forwarded the offer to civil servants, writing: \u2018One for the VIP list please.\u2019<\/p>\n
In January, a judge found that a Pestfix batch of tight-fitting FFP3 masks failed quality tests and six million aprons were rejected for use by the NHS because they were the wrong size.<\/p>\n
The company, which is officially called Crisp Websites Limited, did successfully deliver its batch of IIR masks, two million gloves and other products to the contracted standard.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pestfix (pictured) employed just 16 people and had net assets of \u00a318,000 when the virus struck, but it was awarded \u00a3350million of contracts to supply PPE<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s founder Dan England, dubbed the \u2018bird repeller\u2019, had been able to source the PPE using his veterinary surgeon wife\u2019s contacts in China.<\/p>\n
Although the firm was a supplier to the NHS, it had never provided medical grade PPE before.<\/p>\n
He told officials that his \u2018strong family connections on the ground in China\u2019 meant that the company was \u2018suddenly uniquely placed to help the UK deal with a potentially devastating shortage of vital PPE\u2019.<\/p>\n
The VIP lane has thrown up a series of controversies and was ruled \u2018unlawful\u2019 by the High Court.<\/p>\n
Michelle Mone, nicknamed \u2018Baroness Bra\u2019, has faced intense scrutiny for her ties to PPE Medpro, which won \u00a3203million of contracts after she referred it to the VIP lane.<\/p>\n
An insider said they delivered 11 of its 13 contracts, or 225 million items of PPE, \u2018in extremely difficult circumstances\u2019.<\/p>\n
Pestfix declined to comment saying it was bound by confidentiality. DHSC have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n