SCOTLAND’S national clinical director has labelled claims NHS England and care homes south of the border have been given priority over personal protective equipment (PPE) as “rubbish”.
Professor Jason Leitch stressed that his colleagues in England have confirmed the accusations are not true, adding that all four nations in the UK were “pretty aligned” in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Professor Leitch was asked about the issue on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme.
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Donald Macaskill, the chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents care homes, said earlier that the largest PPE manufacturers were not delivering to Scotland because the NHS and social care providers in England were their priority.
Professor Leitch 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."
He said the NHS and care homes in Scotland could also order PPE from Scottish providers, as well as providers abroad.
Professor Leitch said Mr Macaskill had highlighted that there had been issues with distribution.
He said: "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.
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"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.
"We're speaking to Donald later in the week again."
Mr Leitch also said there were signs that hospital admissions and intensive care admissions were "flattening off" over the last few days, but Scotland still needed to "turn a corner".
Any easing of restrictions would be "gradual", he said, as a second wave of infections would be the "doomsday scenario".
He said: "I think on the way out as on the way in - it will be gradual."
The Scottish Conservatives have welcomed the clarity.
Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said: “I’m glad this lie has been addressed by the most senior clinician around.
“Now everyone in Scotland’s NHS can be rest assured that it is absolutely not the case that the English NHS is somehow being prioritised.
“That will allow us all to focus on what really matters – ensuring this virus is beaten, and that those leading that fight receive the best protection possible”
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