Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish government would be investigating claims that England was being prioritised when it came to the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The First Minister also said that reports of personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution being concentrated in England were of concern to the Scottish Government.

She added that her government would investigate the reports, which clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said was "rubbish" on Good Morning Scotland on Tuesday.

The First Minister said: "I want to be clear about my view, and I hope that no one thinks this is in any way a point of a political nature, it is a point about fairness and co-operation as all of us deal with the challenge of this virus.

"All parts of the UK are facing supply challenges on PPE, indeed this is a global issue, so any situation where supplies were being diverted from one part of the UK to the other without consultation or any sense of co-operation would clearly be unconscionable and unacceptable."

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said she is urgently seeking clarity around the situation and intended to speak with her UK counterpart Matt Hancock later on Tuesday - but he cancelled the phone call.

She said she has written to him to "remind him that he specifically does not have my agreement to the centralisation of ordering or distribution of PPE".

Her concerns were echoed by Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething, who said he has made it clear to the Government there must be fair allocation.

But Downing Street said suppliers were not being ordered to prioritise meeting demand in England over the other nations of the UK.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman 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 coordinate the distribution of PPE evenly across the UK.

"We have not instructed any company to prioritise PPE for one nation over the others."

The spokesman said that on Easter Monday, 22 million items of PPE - including more than 2.5 million aprons - were delivered to 268 organisations.

PPE still in short supply

Protective gowns and eyewear are still in short supply despite national efforts to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to the frontline, medics have suggested.

Doctors' Association UK (DAUKP) said that, although there has been improvements in PPE provision, there are still areas where there are low stock levels.

Doctors, nurses and healthcare staff are worried about their own safety, that of patients and their own families, DAUK said.

The campaign group has set up a tracker app to assess frontline shortages.

The NHSppe App has received input from more than 1,500 medics from 250 hospitals and GP practices across the UK.

Data collated on Tuesday morning from the app shows that:

- 38% of respondents reported no eye protection at all in the form of visors or goggles.

- Only 52% of doctors carrying out high risk aerosol generating procedures had the right long-sleeved gown.

Dr Jenny Vaughan, law and policy lead at Doctors' Association UK, said: "Three weeks after writing to the Prime Minister about the lack of PPE, frontline NHS doctors are still reporting shortages.

"Whilst we acknowledge there have been improvements and that globally getting PPE is challenging, we are hearing reports of low stock or even no deliveries in some areas.

"Doctors, nurses and healthcare staff are worried about their own safety, that of patients and their own families.

"Opportunities to internationally source PPE through an EU scheme have been missed.

"Our doctors on the frontline have been left with little choice but to take matters into their own hands.

"The Doctors' Association UK have partnered with Messly and crowdfunding partners NHS Heroes Support and Let's Beat Covid to raise money and deliver as much of this vital PPE as we can to where it's desperately required."

It comes after Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the Government is confident that joining the EU's ventilator schemes "wouldn't have made any difference to the supply of PPE".

Speaking to LBC, Ms Coffey said the UK "is in a better place now than necessarily we would have been under the EU scheme".

She said: "The important point is that we have over 700 million pieces of PPE that are being delivered."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Coffey added that the UK "continues to need to increase our domestic production of key PPE measures" such as gowns and visors.