THE Scottish Government has denied claims that health chiefs raised concerns about PPE stocks before coronavirus spread through the UK.
A spokesman said ministers "acted quickly and decisively to expand and strengthen PPE supplies in Scotland" after claims staff at NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) knew a large number of their FFP3 masks for pandemic supplies were out of date just as the first cases were confirmed.
The internal messages suggest the Scottish Government was aware of this issue “for a long time”.
The discussions were revealed in a freedom of information request by the Press and Journal newspaper.
On January 31, the day the first Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Scotland, NSS procurement director Gordon Beattie said: “SG aware of out of stock products for a long time as we’ve been asking to write off.”
His colleague Jim Miller said he felt the numbers of masks – 37,800 – “feels quite low”.
A Scottish Government spokesman said staff always had enough PPE to meet demand.
“From the outset of the pandemic, we acted quickly and decisively to expand and strengthen PPE supplies in Scotland, ensuring that all frontline health and social care workers have access to the PPE they need,” he said.
“We have had adequate stock of all forms of PPE supplies for the level of demand at all times.
“Revalidating stock and extending the shelf-life of masks is standard practice to maintain pandemic stock levels and this was used in relation to FFP3 respirator stocks as announced in March.”
He continued: “Any PPE which has been issued to NHS boards which may have passed its original expiry date has been retested to ensure it remains safe to use.
“Such testing has been approved and reviewed by the Health & Safety Executive and to standards relevant to the PPE being tested.”
NSS was now supplying 220,000 FFP3 masks to health boards on a weekly basis, the spokesman said.
At the end of May, Trade Minister Ivan McKee has said Scotland is “moving towards self-sufficiency” in PPE supply.
He said the Scottish Government worked to secure PPE from overseas, including seven charter flights delivering more than 64 million face masks, 130,000 reusable gowns, 120,000 test kits and 1300 infusion pumps.
READ MORE: Scotland's edges towards PPE ‘self-sufficiency’ in coronavirus crisis
It comes as the BBC said the Scottish Government "knew they were underprepared for a crisis like this" last month.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman criticised the Reporting Scotland segment, saying Scotland never ran out of PPE and even helped NHS England with supplies.
READ MORE: Jeane Freeman hits back at BBC over suggestion Scotland 'ran out of PPE'
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