CARE homes and councils are having to source their own vital protective equipment as the Government’s social care supply system is still not up and running.
Clipper Logistics, founded by serial Conservative Party donor Steven Parkin, was awarded a Government contract during the pandemic to create an online “supply portal” for care providers to request equipment.
But this service is still not up and running, leading Brighton and Hove City Council to source equipment for its care homes elsewhere.
Council health chief Councillor Clare Moonan said she was concerned the Clipper service was “delayed”, a claim the Government disputes.
She said supply lines are “not as strong as they could be”.
“The council has sourced and purchased additional equipment and we’ve also received the emergency equipment deliveries via the Sussex Resilience Forum,” she said.
Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said councils had been left to plug the gap left by “Clipper’s failings”.
“Clipper Logistics were awarded the contract to supply non-NHS organisations back in March, but they are failing the people of Brighton and Hove,” she said.
“Local authorities have all but given up relying on ministers’ assurances that bringing in Clipper would improve supply issues, and are doing their best to source it by other means instead.
“I have raised this with ministers but am fobbed off with replies which do not answer my question.
“When the inevitable and necessary inquiry takes place into the response to coronavirus, the failings over protective equipment must be a focal point.
“All the assurances from ministers that it is being resolved are meaningless when care home staff can’t rely on the Government’s own supply system.”
It is understood trials for Clipper’s social care “equipment portal” are under way.
But the firm is also contracted by the Government to operate a similar “protective equipment portal” for NHS trusts. That service has been up and running since the beginning of April.
The Argus has asked the Department for Health and Social Care how much Clipper’s contracts are worth and when they were awarded to them. But a spokesman did not answer the question by the deadline given.
Clipper founder Mr Parkin has donated £725,000 to the Conservative Party in the past three years.
This includes a £25,000 payment made during the 2019 General Election.
The haulage firm declined to comment.
- The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set u p to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund
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