THE UK Health Secretary cancelled a meeting today with Jeane Freeman where she planned to discuss "deeply worrying" claims that PPE is being diverted from Scotland.

Matt Hancock was scheduled to speak to his Scottish counterpart in a routine call this afternoon.

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4 Matt Hancok has cancelled a phone call with Jeane Freeman Credit: AFP or licensors

The Scottish Health Secretary was set to quiz him on reports that England is being prioritised over Scotland amid the coronavirus outbreak this afternoon.

But at today's Covid-19 meeting, Ms Freeman revealed he cancelled the planned call as she attempts to "seek clarity" over the situation.

She said: "Let me first of all underline the seriousness with which I am taking the reports of personal protective equipment destined for Scottish care homes being diverted to England.

"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 or distribution of PPE or to the diversion of orders placed in Scotland for destination to Scottish social care or the health service."

We told earlier how PPE suppliers have been accused of refusing to ship stock to Scotland or Wales because of needs in England.

PPE resources have been stretched amid the coronavirus pandemic with some frontline healthcare workers claiming there are not enough masks, gloves or other equipment available.

The Times report that Gompels, based in Melsham, Wiltshire, has said it won’t supply Scotland or Wales because of an agreement with Public Health England.

4 Scotland's Health Secretary was set to question Mr Hancock about diverted PPE claims Credit: AFP or licensors

The company website reads: “You must be registered and operating within England – apologies to Wales and Scotland, we are told you have different processed for getting emergency supplies.”

Nicola Sturgeon said centralisation of PPE stock would be "deeply worrying" if true.

She added: "I'm not interested in stirring up an issue that is not an issue because I'm not interested in petty arguments at this stage - we all want to do the right thing in equipping our frontline staff with the equipment they need.

"The other side of that is that the Scottish Government will stand by and be treated unfairly when it comes to the fair distribution of supplies.

4

"If there is any sense that supplies are being diverted from Scotland or any other part of the UK automatically, without any discussion about whether that is part of a co-operative approach, then that would be deeply worrying."

The UK Department of Health and Social Care last night insisted supplies are being co-ordinated across the UK.

But Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care claims one English supplier of PPE said they don’t have stock to deliver to Scotland.

The Scottish Care chief, who represents over 800 of Scotland’s 1,000 care homes, said: “There is a major shortage of PPE so our providers aren’t able to import in the way in which they used to.

4 Nicola Sturgeon said the PPE claims are deeply worrying

“The sheer cost of PPE has gone through the roof because the demand is just out of this realm.”Care homes, home care, the acute sector are all wanting some of the basic PPE equipment.

“I have seen one email saying ‘I’m paying 400 per cent more per mask than I did before this crisis’ so somebody is making money from this crisis.”

Professor Leitch, Scotland’s National Clinical Director slammed the suggestion England was being prioritised for protective equipment amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

He told the BBC that claims of English NHS facilities and care homes were being put first were ‘rubbish’.

He said: “We have looked into it and we think it’s rubbish. So, the companies, and our colleagues at NHS England yesterday when we spoke to them, said it wasn’t true.

“There’s another element of this though, that the English route for PPE is one of three routes that Scotland has access to PPE from.

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“So we are in a four-country fight against this virus. Honestly, people might not believe me, but that four-countries fight is pretty aligned.

“What we struggled a little bit with distribution over the last few weeks is distribution to the lesser well-known care home sector who haven’t needed PPE in the past until they’ve had this virus.

“Now that is being sorted very, very quickly. I’m much more confident than I was even a week ago, that that is now working.”

The Scottish Government said: “It would be totally unacceptable if PPE equipment needed in Scotland was diverted, intercepted or sent elsewhere in the UK. We have no knowledge of this and are checking urgently to establish if this has happened.

“Scotland’s social care workforce is on the front line of our national pandemic response. Their work is always hugely valued, and never more so than now.

“The safety of the workforce is an absolute priority, and we are continuously looking to improve the distribution of the protective equipment that is so vital in the fight against Covid-19.”

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