THE Scottish Government has been accused of presiding over a “pitiful” system for getting supermarket deliveries to the most vulnerable people amid the pandemic.

The Scottish Tories said ministers also appeared confused over how many people were in the so-called “shielded group” whose medical conditions put them under an extreme form of lockdown.

Nicola Sturgeon admitted there had been “glitches” in the supermarket system, but insisted it was working, despite an unknown number of “individual cases” where it wasn’t.

The Scottish Government initially estimated the shielded list would cover 200,000 people, but then revised it down to 120,000, before raising it again to 136,000 and then 144,000.

The First Minister said today it was now 157,000 based on clinical assessments.

In England, the UK Government told supermarkets directly about its list of those at extra risk of coronavirus, including transplant recipients, cancer patients, and those with suppressed immune systems. 

However in Scotland the SNP Government asked the people concerned to register with a text service that was meant to pass their details to supermarkets as priority customers.

Mr Carlaw said there had been hold-ups with the service, and asked how many people had had their details passed on, and how many of those had received deliveries.

The First Minister admitted there had been “problems” with some mobile phone providers last week, but said these had now been resolved.

She said: “We now have 60,000 people who have registered through that SMS service, 43,000 free food packages have been ordered. Many of them have been delivered already.

“I have had contacts from people saying they’ve got them and they’re very grateful for them.

“Twenty-one thousand people have requested that we pass their details on to supermarkets, so that supermarkets can prioritise them for deliveries, and their details have been shared with supermarkets. So that is all happening.

“With any system like this that is put in place quickly for good reason and is complex and large scale, there will be glitches and there will be individuals who have difficulties.

“But the system is working and the numbers I’ve given today I think evidence that.” 

Asked if she was now certain every vulnerable person was getting the help they needed, Ms Sturgeon said: “We are certain that everybody who’s been identified by the clinical process - I don’t decide who is in the vulnerable shielded group, I’m not a clinician - we originally said that would be up to 200,000, we then thought that would be 120,000, through further checks and making sure everyone is captured that figure is 157,000. All of those people have been notified.

“In a situation like this we will get individual cases where further investigation is needed, and there is an absolute guarantee to address that as soon as possible.

“I don’t think it’s true to suggest there are growing numbers of people for whom these systems are not working. We are making these systems work. 

“We will continue to resolve the individual cases, however many of them they continue to be, to make sure these are fixed as quickly as possible.”

Mr Carlaw said afterwards that SNP ministers had “dithered” and chosen a more complex approach than the UK Government.

He said: “We are now weeks into this public health crisis, yet still the SNP hasn’t managed to ensure vulnerable people can get supermarket delivery slots.

“The UK Government simply passed its list on to the big chains, which allowed them to prioritise delivery slots for those who needed them most.

“But here, the SNP dithered and eventually came up with a convoluted system, which hasn’t worked properly, and resulted in a pitiful number of shielded people receiving the help they need.

“It’s just another example of the SNP doing something differently for the sake of being different – and the consequences for the most vulnerable people have been serious.

“The SNP government doesn’t even seem to know how many people are on its shielded list, with the number changing radically each time a minister talks about it.”

Ms Sturgeon later took to Twitter to insist that the supermarket service for the shielded group was a "voluntary opt-in service", and it was wrong to say not all people had "been registered" for it.

Mr Carlaw added: "It’s very clear from all the initial Scottish Government correspondence, and indeed from direct statements by Nicola Sturgeon, that this was not merely an ‘opt-in’ situation.

“Following her post-FMQ comments, Nicola Sturgeon appears to be questioning her own guidance in the face of the disappointing record of her own government in its support for key vulnerable people.”