THE UK Government had not included key protective equipment in its pandemic stockpile by the time coronavirus arrived in the UK, a Panorama investigation has found.

The programme reported that gowns, visors, swabs and body bags were left out of the stockpile when it was set up in 2009.

A government spokesperson told Panorama that the committee that advises the Government on respiratory virus threats – Nervtag – had not recommended stockpiling the items. They added the stockpile was intended for a flu pandemic, which has a lower hospitalisation rate than Covid-19.

But Panorama reported that Nervtag recommended that gowns, one of the most in-demand PPE items in the UK, should be bought in June.

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Public health expert Professor John Ashton, who has been critical of the UK Government’s approach to the Covid-19 crisis, told the programme: “The consequence of not planning, not ordering kit, not having stockpiles, is that we are sending into the frontline doctors, nurses, other health workers and social care workers without the equipment to keep them safe.”

Panorama also spoke to NHS insiders who did not wish to be named in the programme.

One head of procurement told the show: "There is a complete lack of transparency from the government. They are creating panic, as we don't know if they can supply us so we are scrambling to get it elsewhere.”

Panorama also investigated UK Government guidance on the PPE frontline NHS should wear. Back in January the coronavirus was named a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) – which would require all healthcare workers to wear a gown, FFP3 respirator mask and visor under current Health and Safety Executive guidelines.

But just two months later the UK Government downgraded guidance on PPE and advised staff to wear less protective aprons and basic surgical masks unless in the most high-risk situations. Panorama understands the Government took steps to remove the coronavirus from the HCID list this same day without consulting the experts who advised it be included initially.

Panorama found the UK Government instead asked its Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP), and that the group was only asked to consider the issue, which had been added to the agenda under “any other business” on the morning of its March 13 meeting.

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The group backed downgrading Covid-19 but sources on the committee told Panorama it had been a decision based on the availability of PPE.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided at all times by the best scientific advice.

“The government has been working day and night to battle against coronavirus, delivering a strategy designed at all times to protect our NHS and save lives.”

A government spokesperson added that Covid-19 was removed from the list due to its low mortality rate and increased clinical awareness around the virus.

They said: "The HCID classification is used for serious infections where there are limited numbers of cases requiring specialist input and facilities."