Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare facilities have suffered from shortages in medical resources, particularly in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In this paper, we propose a game-theoretic approach to schedule PPE orders among healthcare facilities. In this PPE game, each independent healthcare facility optimises its own storage utilisation in order to keep its PPE cost at a minimum. Such a model can reduce peak demand considerably when applied to a variable PPE consumption profile. Experiments conducted for NHS England regions using actual data confirm that the challenge of securing PPE supply during disasters such as COVID-19 can be eased if proper stock management procedures are adopted. These procedures can include early stockpiling, increasing storage capacities and implementing measures that can prolong the time period between successive infection waves, such as social distancing measures. Simulation results suggest that the provision of PPE dedicated storage space can be a viable solution to avoid straining PPE supply chains in case a second wave of COVID-19 infections occurs.

翻译：自COVID-19大流行以来,许多保健设施都缺乏医疗资源,特别是个人防护设备(PPE),在本文件中,我们提出在保健设施之间安排个人防护设备订单的游戏理论方法;在PPP游戏中,每个独立的保健设施都选择自己的储存使用,以尽量减少其个人防护设备的成本;这种模式在适用于可变个人防护设备消费情况时可以大大减少高峰需求;在英格兰国家卫生体系地区利用实际数据进行的实验证实,如果采用适当的库存管理程序,在诸如COVID-19等灾害期间确保个人防护设备供应的挑战是可以缓解的;这些程序可包括早期储存、增加储存能力以及实施可延长连续感染波之间时间的措施,例如社会分化措施;模拟结果表明,提供个人防护设备专用储存空间可以成为一个可行的解决办法,避免在出现第二波COVID-19感染的情况下对个人防护设备供应链进行训练。