NICOLA Sturgeon is investigating reports that personal protective equipment (PPE) for care home staff is being diverted south of the border - as Scotland's Health Secretary admitted her English counterpart has not diverted safety gear away from Scotland - as was initially feared.
The chief executive of Scottish Care, Donald Macaskill, has claimed that the largest PPE suppliers were not delivering their gear to Scotland because the NHS and social care providers south of the border were their priority.
One supplier, Gompels, has face masks and aprons available only to Public Health England (PHE).
The listing later added: "We have been told that there are alternative arrangements in place for Wales and Scotland, but we have not been able to find out what they are.
"Please do not think this is us discriminating against our lovely and loyal Welsh and Scottish customers."
Earlier, Scotland's national clinical director, Jason Leitch, had labelled the claims "rubbish" but both Nicola Sturgeon and Ms Freeman stated they were concerned.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the reports were “causing concern to the Scottish Government”.
She said: “We are aware of reports yesterday and this morning that supplies of personal protective equipment to care homes in Scotland are being diverted to England.
“We are not aware, so far, that this is an issue affecting supplies to our national stockpile in Scotland - although we continue to monitor that very closely indeed.”
READ MORE: Coronavirus in Scotland: Claims England has priority over PPE are 'rubbish'
Ms Sturgeon added: “I want to be clear that if care homes’ usual supplies are affected in this way, then as well as that being completely unacceptable in itself, it will of course increase pressure on our national stockpile and that would be a source of real worry for 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 seek to resolve them if they are real issues, as a matter of urgency.”
The First Minister said the issue was “a point about fairness and cooperation”.
She added: “All parts of the UK right now are facing supply challenges on PPE, indeed, this is a global issue.
“Any situation where supplies were being diverted from one part of the UK to another, without consultation or any sense of cooperation, would clearly be unconscionable and unacceptable.”
READ MORE: Westminster officials reject claims PPE being withheld from Scotland
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman added: “Let me underline the seriousness of which I am taking the reports of personal protective equipment destined for Scottish care homes being diverted to England.
“We are urgently seeking clarity around this situation.
“I had intended to raise that personally with the UK Health Secretary today but he has cancelled the planned call, so I have instead written to him to remind him that he specifically does not have my agreement to the centralisation of ordering and distribution of PPE or to the diversion of orders placed in Scotland for destination to Scottish social care or the health service.”
But Ms Freeman later tweeted that she was "pleased" Mr Hancock has decided to take part in the discussion and that she had been given "assurance that neither NHS England nor PHE asked suppliers to divert PPE orders from Scotland".
She added: "We go forward constructively as before and continue to check on these supplies."
Pleased @MattHancock changedhis plans to join a constructive discussion of 4 Health Ministers & grateful 4 assurance that neither NHS England nor PHE asked suppliers to divert PPE orders from Scotland. We go forward constructively as before & continue to check on these supplies.
— Jeane Freeman (@JeaneF1MSP) April 14, 2020
The UK Government has rubbished the claims.
A 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.”
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