HSE had 'impossible task' in trying to procure ventilators during covid, says CEO

In his statement to the PAC, Bernard Gloster is expected to say that the process undertaken at the beginning of the pandemic to acquire ventilators from heretofore unknown suppliers, most notably from China, equated to 'ebay style bidding wars'. Picture: PA

The head of the HSE has said the health service faced an “impossible task” in trying to effectively procure covid ventilators at the beginning of the pandemic.

Chief executive Bernard Gloster will tell the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that HSE staff had had to “deliberately over order” when it came to ventilators in order to secure the necessary volume and supply, “knowing that cancelling later and managing the financial risk would be factors that might arise”.