Protective gear supplies for NHS and care staff ‘under pressure’

The supply of coronavirus protective gear for care home and NHS staff is “under pressure”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has admitted.

Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government was working hard to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers amid concerns about shortages of the kit.

Care home operators have complained not enough PPE is getting to the frontline and the trade union Unison has claimed that official guidance has left staff confused.

At her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said providing PPE was an issue of “intense focus” as she also vowed to step up testing of care home staff.

Ms Sturgeon said six million items of PPE had already been distributed, and supplies were currently “healthy”.

She added: “But they (supplies) are under pressure and the global supply chain is under pressure, so that is an issue of on-going concern and focus.”

The first minister said she had chaired a resilience meeting the night before where PPE had been the key topic and the Cabinet had discussed it at length.

“This remains an issue of intense focus because we understand the absolute priority,” she added.

Ms Sturgeon and Health Secretary Jeane Freeman explained that distribution of PPE had been streamlined to speed up the process of getting the equipment to workers.

The Scottish Government had taken over distribution and ministers were being helped by Army logistics experts based in St Andrews House, the government headquarters in Edinburgh.

Ms Freeman said supplies were being constantly monitored and she was in discussions with the independent care sector and local government. An email address had been issued so people could highlight PPE shortages.

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This remains an issue of intense focus for us. NICOLA STURGEON