SA Health’s management of personal protective equipment

This report covers our assessment of the effectiveness of SA Health’s planning, governance and distribution arrangements for personal protective equipment (PPE) in ensuring appropriate PPE supplies are readily available where and when needed.

We concluded that SA Health has established some sound planning, governance and distribution practices for PPE. We also concluded that some elements of the PPE arrangements are not operating effectively. These matters require action to ensure preparedness for significant peaks in PPE demand that could arise as COVID-19 restrictions are progressively lifted, new COVID-19 variants emerge and in any future health emergencies.

Procedural fairness for this report was completed over the Christmas period for 2021. During this time SA Health were responding to the Omicron variant which emerged in late November 2021. Our report focussed on PPE arrangements for the period January 2021 to October 2021.