HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman has warned that “issues remain” over whether personal protective equipment (PPE) is being diverted from Scotland to England as official UK Government guidelines indicate this is the case.

The guidelines, published last week, state that seven manufacturers of PPE “will all provide supplies to care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)”.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects care services in England only.

Ms Freeman was yesterday given “clear assurances” from her English counterpart, Matt Hancock, that “neither NHS England nor PHE (Public Health England) asked suppliers to divert PPE orders from Scotland". But she has asked Mr Hancock to resolve remaining concerns she has over the issue.

The row erupted after Donald Macaskill, head of Scottish Care, claimed PPE suppliers were not delivering to Scotland because NHS and social care providers south of the border were their priority.

One supplier, Gompels, has face masks, polythene aprons and gloves available only to Public Health England (PHE).

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The listing adds: "We have been told that there are alternative arrangements in place for Wales and Scotland, but we have not been able to find out what they are.

"Please do not think this is us discriminating against our lovely and loyal Welsh and Scottish customers."

Gompels said that it is following rules that see some items “mandated for supply to CQC (Care Quality Commission) registered settings operating in England”.

The company points to the UK Government’s Covid-19 PPE plan, published on April 10.

The document says: “We have made arrangements with seven wholesalers to supply PPE to the social care sector.

"Careshop, Blueleaf, Delivernet, Countrywide Healthcare, Nexon Group, Wightman and Parrish and Gompels will all provide supplies to care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission.”

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It adds: “Each of the devolved administrations has their own supply chain operation for PPE and is responsible for ensuring distribution within Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

“We are working closely with colleagues in the devolved nations to ensure supplies of PPE are distributed equitably across the four nations.”

Last night, Ms Freeman tweeted: "While I have welcomed the assurances Matt Hancock gave me, I’m afraid issues remain and I hope he will now resolve them as I have asked him to."

Speaking about the issue on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Ms Freeman added: "I'm now looking at a contradiction between what a company says and the assurance that the Secretary of State (Matt Hancock) has given me, and I have simply asked him to resolve that because it sits at his hand."

READ MORE: Coronavirus in Scotland: Claims England has priority over PPE are 'rubbish'

Ms Freeman also said she had asked Scotland's national procurement service to remodel the demand to see if more can be provided to the care home sector without detracting from the other parts of the NHS and the social care sector which also rely on that PPE.

A UK Government spokesman said: "No wholesaler has been asked to prioritise NHS provision over the care sector."

He added: "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."