Scottish Government to investigate reports of PPE being 'diverted' to England

The First Minister said it would be “completely unacceptable” if reports that a PPE manufacturer is prioritising supplying health workers in England over those in Scotland were true

Nicola Sturgeon promised to investigate following reports that a manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) is prioritising health workers in England over those in Scotland.

The First Minister said it would be “completely unacceptable” if reports in The Times that a company that provides care homes in Scotland with PPE has stopped doing so and is focussing on work with Public Health England instead.

Sturgeon said that the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman would raise the matter in a phone call with UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Gompels, a Wiltshire based company that normally supplies care homes in Scotland reportedly claimed on its website that anybody looking for supplies must be registered and operating within England.

It said: “Apologies to Wales and Scotland, we are told you have different processes for getting emergency supplies.”

Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is “extremely concerned” by the reports and said that it would now investigate the matter further.

She said: “We are aware of reports yesterday and this morning that supplies of PPE to care homes in Scotland are being diverted to England.

“I must stress that we’re not aware so far that this is an issue affecting supplies to our national stockpiles in Scotland, although we continue to monitor that very closely indeed.

“If care homes’ usual supplies are affected in this way then, as well as it being completely unacceptable in itself, it will increase pressure on our national stockpile and that would be a source of real worry with us.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say we are extremely concerned about these reports and are taking steps to investigate them further and to resolve them if they are real issues as a matter of urgency.”

Sturgeon’s comments came hours after the government’s clinical director Jason Leitch told the BBC that he did not believe the reports were accurate.

He said: "We have looked into it and we think it's rubbish.

“The companies, and our colleagues at NHS England yesterday when we spoke to them, said it wasn't true”.

Leitch stressed that there are three main supply routes for PPE in Scotland: UK-wide procurement, individual orders from overseas and PPE made in Scotland.

Sturgeon made the comments during the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus press conference.

She also announced that a further 40 people had died from COVID-19, with the overall death toll in Scotland now 615.

In total there are 1,798 patients in hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, 196 of whom are in intensive care.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “Our PPE strategy is UK-wide, making sure that frontline workers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the PPE they need to stay protected while taking care of patients.

“Through this four-nation approach, we are working closely with the devolved administrations to co-ordinate the distribution of PPE evenly across the UK. To date, Scotland has received 11 million pieces of PPE from central UK stocks.

“We have not instructed any company to prioritise PPE for any one nation. Our UK-wide strategy will ensure equipment continues to be evenly distributed across the entire nation.”