Agreed, dealing with government services in the UK is a total nightmare. With the Nightingale hospitals the government and the Army were directly involved and overrode every normal NHS practise.
It would be interesting to contact the paper and ask for the department the company contacted. I suspect they went to the NHS, which is a total waste of time. I also read about a company which is looking to send nearly half a million face masks to the EU because the NHS won't put in an order. But the company has been talking to local NHS trusts and PCG's and only getting small orders. There is no point in talking to the NHS at this time if you have converted your business and are manufacturing at volume. All you will get is "go through our supply process" because that is what is authorised. The manufacturers need to go right to the government themselves and Hancock if required and tell them that they either put in an order of the press will know that UK manufactured PPE is going out of the country because the NHS doesn't want to work with UK companies, just with established suppliers.
If you fill out the entry on the website it will take 6 months complete and Hancock will never even hear about it. There are thousands of people in the NHS with no other function than to ensure the rules are applied and the first thing that needs to be done is to send these people off on furlough.