A and E Safety Equipment (Hansard, 21 March 2002)

§ Dr. Evan Harris
To ask the Secretary of State for Health against what agents the(a) personal protective equipment and (b) decontamination shelters provided to hospital accident and emergency departments can protect. [40812]

§ Mr. Hutton
The chemical personal protective equipment (PPE) currently being made available to hospitals (and ambulance service staff) fully meets the NHS specification (NHSCPPE/2001) which was developed to ensure that health services personnel are protected during the decontamination of chemically contaminated casualties and able to provide life saving first aid during the decontamination process. The PPE has been tested against 15 liquid industrial chemicals in a standard test battery (ATSM F1001–99a) chosen to represent a broad range of liquid classes and properties. It has also been tested against a representative sample of chemical warfare agents.
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The purpose of the mobile decontamination facilities currently being made available to hospitals (and ambulance service staff) is to provide privacy and shelter for chemically contaminated casualties during the decontamination process. These facilities are not intended to provide protection against chemical agents for either health service personnel or the chemically contaminated casualty. Health service personnel will be protected by wearing PPE, while casualties will be given appropriate medical treatment once they have been decontaminated.

§ Dr. Evan Harris
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the provision of(a) personal protective equipment and (b) decontamination equipment to hospital accident and emergency departments has cost in each of the last three years [40811]

§ Mr. Hutton
A total of £150 million has been invested in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Modernisation Programme in three waves since 1998. It is the biggest investment in A&E services since the start of the national health service. The final wave of funding was made available to the NHS in January 2001.
The investment has provided various improvements to A&E services which include decontamination facilities. However, there is no complete breakdown in terms of cost as to specific details within a scheme.
A £5 million capital allocation has been made in 2001–2002 to secure, through national contracts, the provision of mobile decontamination units and personal protective equipment (PPE).