A Damning Indictment on Pandemic Profiteers

"A Mammoth Problem"

It was back in early February this year that I first realised that this country had a mammoth problem ahead of them if the Virus was allowed to get out of control. At first glance we all looked on with apprehension of the emerging crisis, wondering what was going to happen if we had as bad an epidemic as Italy. What would we do? How can we go on? Oh my God, what if I get it? However, I could see something as sinister waiting in the wings to bite us all on the "Proverbial" PPE!

"A bone of Contention"

As supply lines go (and I should know, i'm one of them), the NHS has a huge selection of suppliers to call on. But one thing that's always been a bone of contention, is the vital supply of standard PPE and the lack there of. Over the past decade many of our beloved institutions have been reduced to a mere speck of their former selves, be it down to "Austerity" or something more deep seated than that, budgets have been more than halved, expenditure cut to a bare minimum, cost of goods on the rise and it's always the NHS that has to bare the brunt of it.

"Raking it in"

But now we're in uncharted waters during this global crisis, we see the Ugly Head that we haven't seen since the end of WWII - "Profiteers" But this time it will hurt every Man, Woman and Child in this Country! There's another virus lingering in the wings out there and it's called "Greed" or as the unscrupulous call it "Supply & Demand" Over the past few months we've seen an increase in PPE of some 600%, an unbelievable increase all put down to - yes you guessed it "Supply and Demand" Yet again, certain businesses have thought nothing more than "Raking it in" Let's earn whilst the goings good? If we don't do it, others will! We hear it all the time, but time and again we don't even listen to ourselves when we say "We've had enough" instead; we go back to our world and fall back in line with the now Nuevo Fat Cats, we simply forget it ever happened.

"Lest We Forget"

Now i'm not here to point the finger at any one company in particular - I haven't got that many fingers to start with or the time! What i'm trying to do here is to make sure we don't forget them! Let's not forget, that there has never been that much of a shortage of anything? Outside of the supply chain for the NHS, PPE was easy to purchase and even easier to sell. If you had the money, you simply bought high and sold even higher. Some of my oldest suppliers in the UK, suppliers that until now I thought I had an amazing business relationship with, have quadrupled their prices. And on one occasion we were actually told "we have stock, so pay the price or try to buy in elsewhere? That from a supplier that we have purchased from for over 15 years! Let's be honest, yes there has been unprecedented disruption around the World, and yes prices will increase - it's inevitable. But the cost of raw material has not had that much of an increase, and yes we all know the economies of scale and most of us on here will understand that. But we should not forget the greed, and once again British firms have priced themselves out of the market.

"Unacceptable Level"

I decided at the start once we all heard of the PPE crisis, that the NHS had more need for my stock than I needed extra profits. However, the most needy was out of bounds for us to supply namely GP Surgeries, Care Homes, Police, Refuse Collection; all in dire need for our products, so we simply gave them away, every last piece - over 1/2 million units of PPE, our entire stock. And now we've come to restock, we see prices in the UK at an astronomical level - an unacceptable level. And once again, companies are left with no choice but to seek products from further afield - so much for Buy British! Gloves, Masks, Aprons, Face Shields etc, can be purchased (If you're lucky enough to be able to buy in bulk) from suppliers across the EU and Asia. Where we look to buy British, the greedy hinder, where we look support British, the greedy flaunt us! Isn't it time we remember...

Tony Lynch