SCOTLAND’S Heath Secretary Jeane Freeman has said she had wanted to raise urgent concerns over the provision of PPE to care homes with Matt Hancock today – but he has cancelled the call.

Freeman was referring to reports that the UK Government has told firms supplying the vital emergency protective equipment to care homes not to deal with providers in Scotland and Wales.

The First Minister today said she is “extremely concerned” by the reports, which include one firm – Gompels HealthCare – posting a message from Public Health England on its site telling those interested in purchasing the protective equipment that they “must be registered and operating in England – apologies to Wales and Scotland”.

READ MORE: Westminster tells vital supply firms not to deal with Scotland

Concerns first emerged yesterday morning when Scottish Care chief executive Donald Macaskill said PPE firms were supplying England with the emergency gear as their “priority”.

At today’s daily briefing Freeman said: "Let me underline the seriousness with which I am taking the reports of Personal Protective Equipment destined for Scottish care homes being diverted to England.

"As the First Minster has said, 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 remind him that he specifically does not have my agreement to the centralisation of ordering or distribution of PPE, or to the diversion of orders placed in Scotland for destination to Scottish social care or the health service."

Earlier the First Minister had said the Scottish Government is investigating these reports further.

READ MORE: First Minister concerned by reports PPE firms won't supply Scotland

She told reporters: "We are aware of reports that supplies of PPE to care homes in Scotland are being diverted to England. I should stress we are not aware, so far, that this is an issue affecting supplies to our national stockpile, although we continue to monitor that.

"I also want to be clear, if care homes usual supplies are being 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 real worry for us.

"So, it is not an exaggeration to say we are extremely concerned by these reports and are taking steps to investigate them further and to seek to resolve them, if there are real issues as a matter of urgency."

After initially raising concerns yesterday, Macaskill told The National a number of companies have been in contact with him to say they would only supply PPE to England.

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.”

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