A medical supply company linked to peer Baroness Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman has been ordered to pay £122m in damages after a judge ruled it breached a government contract for the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care sued PPE Medpro over claims the medical gowns it supplied did not comply with relevant healthcare standards.
The High Court ruled the Medpro failed to prove whether or not its surgical gowns, which were to be used by NHS workers, had undergone a validated sterilisation process.
The court said the firm had until 15 October to pay the damages.
During the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020, the government scrambled to secure supplies of PPE as the country went into lockdown and hospitals across the country were reporting shortages of clothing and accessories to protect medics from the virus.
In May that year, PPE Medpro was set up by a consortium led by Baroness Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, and won its first government contract to supply masks through a so-called VIP lane after being recommended by Baroness Mone.
The High Court judgement said the government later ordered 25 million sterile gowns from Medpro, which were delivered in August and October 2020, after being manufactured in China.
However, just before Christmas that year, the Department of Health served the company with a notice rejecting the gowns and asking for a refund.
The judgement said the government decided it was “not satisfied that the gowns were contractually compliant” after inspecting them, and claimed subsequent tests conducted found “a number of them were not sterile”.
It led to the government launching legal action in 2022 through the High Court, claiming the gowns did not comply with the agreed contract.
