"Delivering her summary judgment, Justice Cockerill said the gowns failed to comply with a "validated sterilisation process", as explicitly required under the contract. While PPE Medpro had accepted this requirement during contractual negotiations, the gowns it supplied lacked the appropriate Notified Body numbers mandated under EU legislation for Class I sterile medical devices. "PPE Medpro breached the contract," the judge concluded, citing the absence of sufficient sterilisation certification and technical compliance."
"The ruling will come as a major blow to PPE Medpro and its high-profile backers - businessman Doug Barrowman and his wife Baroness Michelle Mone - who have long maintained that the company fulfilled its obligations and was being politically scapegoated. The case centred on a £122 million contract awarded at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. PPE Medpro had offered to supply 25 million sterile surgical gowns, which the DHSC later deemed non-compliant and unsuitable for NHS use."
PPE Medpro has been ordered to repay £121,999,219 to the Department of Health and Social Care after a High Court judge found the company breached its contract for sterile surgical gowns supplied during the Covid-19 pandemic. The gowns failed to meet the contract’s validated sterilisation requirements and lacked the Notified Body numbers required under EU legislation for Class I sterile medical devices. The DHSC deemed the gowns non-compliant and unsuitable for NHS use and rejected multiple no-fault settlement offers, including a full gown remake and a £23 million cash payment. The repayment is due by 16:00 on 15 October 2025, and the ruling affects the company and its backers Doug Barrowman and Baroness Michelle Mone, who maintain the gowns met obligations and claim political scapegoating.
Read at Business Matters
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