NICOLA Sturgeon has insisted that protective aprons sent to doctors were wrongly labelled as “bin bags” and are safe for medics to use.
GP practices in the Highlands, Fife and the Borders were among those sent batches of white aprons in relabelled boxes, which had previously been labelled for "white tint polythene bags".
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon insisted that the items were “medical grade aprons that had been independently tested” after the Scottish Government initially said the boxes had been “mislabelled”.
READ MORE: Anger as GPs sent 'unsafe' PPE aprons that look like 'repurposed bin bags'
She First Minister said if GPs are unhappy, they can contact local health board bosses to ask for replacements.
The British Medical Association Scotland raised concerns earlier this week after a GP claimed she had been sent repurposed bin bags to use as PPE.
Dr Beth Hadden, a medic at Connel Surgery in Argyll, said they were delivered in place of PPE aprons.
She said the box was previously labelled as polythene bags and questioned if the items met infection standards.
During First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie told Ms Sturgeon the issue had “annoyed” doctors, as he insisted the items do “look like bin bags”.
He said: “I want to avoid a repeat of the PPE protective equipment problems from earlier this year.
“Last week GPs were given new supplies, they were supposed to include aprons, but they were given white polythene bags instead. Holes had been cut out for heads and arms.”
Ms Sturgeon said there had been an issue with the “labelling of these aprons as bin bags that had been reformulated”.
She added: “It has been confirmed that was a mislabelling and not correct, these were PPE aprons.
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“The second and most important point is that these aprons fully comply with all regulations and had passed rigorous quality assurance.”
She insisted all supplied PPE “goes through rigorous checks, and I think people on the front line have a right to expect that”.
She added: “One of the most important responsibilities of Government is to make sure those in the front line of our health and care services have the PPE they need and the Government has taken a number of steps to make sure that that is the case.
“And we will continue to make sure that our stocks are resilient and that the quality of PPE is as it should be.”
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