A performance audit into SA Health’s management of personal protective equipment (PPE) has found SA Health had established sound planning, governance and distribution practices for PPE, but some matters require attention.
In his report SA Health’s management of personal protective equipment, Auditor-General, Andrew Richardson said his audit focused on PPE arrangements for the period January 2021 to October 2021 as well as SA Health’s preparedness to respond to current and future threats and challenges to maintain appropriate PPE supplies.
“We concluded that SA Health has established some sound planning, governance and distribution practices for PPE,” Mr Richardson said.
“We also concluded that some elements of the PPE arrangements are not operating effectively,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Richardson said the audit found SA Health responded appropriately in the early stages of the pandemic and focused on increasing PPE stock holdings and exploring a range of options to secure critical PPE supplies.
He said however that some elements of SA Health’s arrangements for PPE were unclear; that there were gaps in PPE demand forecasting methodology; that the PPE stock holding model was not supported by documented analysis; that there was no up-to-date strategic procurement plan; that the PPE strategy governance group did not meet regularly in 2021; and there were gaps in reporting to governance committees.
The audit also found there were no systemic records of PPE in imprests2 and there were gaps in PPE reporting to Local Health Network (LHN) imprest owners.
Mr Richardson said that as SA Health was still responding to its pandemic priorities it was difficult for it to address all the audit findings.
“We understand that SA Health will adopt a risk-based approach to implementing our recommendations,” Mr Richardson said.
The Auditor-General’s 61-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
