Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicola Sturgeon admits supplies of protective gear for NHS and care staff ‘under pressure’

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon holds a Covid-19 press briefing in St Andrew's House, Edinburgh.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon holds a Covid-19 press briefing in St Andrew's House, Edinburgh.

The supply of coronavirus protective gear for care home and NHS staff is “under pressure”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has admitted.

Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government was working hard to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers, amid concerns about shortages of the kit.

Care home operators have complained not enough PPE is getting to the frontline and trade union Unison has claimed that official guidance has left staff confused.

At her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said providing PPE was an issue of “intense focus” as she also vowed to step up testing of care home staff.

The global supply chain is under pressure. So that is an issue of ongoing concern and focus for us.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Ms Sturgeon said six million items of PPE had already been distributed, adding that supplies were currently “healthy.”

She added: “But they (supplies) are under pressure and the global supply chain is under pressure. So that is an issue of ongoing concern and focus for us.”

The first minister said she had chaired a resilience meeting the night before where PPE had been the key topic and the cabinet had discussed it at length.

“This remains an issue of intense focus because we understand the absolute priority,” Ms Sturgeon added.

Ms Sturgeon and health secretary Jeane Freeman explained that distribution of PPE had been streamlined to speed up the process of getting the equipment to workers.

The Scottish Government had taken over distribution and ministers were being helped by Army logistics experts based in St Andrews House, the government headquarters in Edinburgh.

Ms Freeman said supplies were being constantly monitored and she was in discussions with the independent care sector and local government. An email address had been issued so people could highlight PPE shortages.

The spotlight has fallen on the care sector after eight residents died at Castle View care home in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, in a suspected Covid-19 outbreak. That followed 16 deaths at the Burlington Court Care Home in Glasgow from suspected coronavirus.

In addition, home carer Catherine Sweeney from Dumbarton died in hospital at the weekend after contracting the virus.

Renaissance Care chairman Robert Kilgour.

This week the founder of Renaissance Care Robert Kilgour warned of a lack of PPE and testing and warned of a “tsunami” of deaths to come in the sector.

Ms Sturgeon said the Care Inspectorate had confirmed appropriate infection control measures had been in place in the Castle View care home.

Trade unions claim Scottish guidance goes against UK’s

Concern has been expressed by health workers union Unison and the Scottish Trade Unions Congress (STUC) over PPE guidance issued by chief nursing officer Fiona McQueen, which they claim contradicts UK advice.

To put home and social care workers in Scotland at greater risk than their UK counterparts is nothing short of a national scandal.”

Johanna Baxter

The Scottish guidance suggests care workers do not have to wear a mask, if the person they are looking after does not have the coronavirus or is not suspected of having it.

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland’s head of local government, said: “This guidance must be withdrawn immediately. To put home and social care workers in Scotland at greater risk than their UK counterparts is nothing short of a national scandal.”

STUC general secretary designate Rozanne Foyer said: “Tragically, care home residents and care workers are falling ill and dying. The longer these mixed messages are in the public domain, the more avoidable death and illness will increase.

“Unions in the sector are reporting some, frankly, outrageous breaches by individual employers particularly in residential care homes. This contradictory guidance simply fuels that fire of confusion, which is causing widespread fear and anxiety among care workers.”

Ms McQueen, who appeared beside Ms Sturgeon and Ms Freeman at the briefing, said the guidance was based on scientific evidence and was supported by Royal colleges and had been affirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

On the issue of testing for NHS and care workers, Ms Sturgeon said testing capacity was “increasing with literally every day that passes” and an update on how many had been carried out would be given shortly.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The health secretary is also looking to see how testing of care workers can be increased as our overall testing capacity including for NHS staff is increased. The importance and the dedication of those who work in the care sector is recognised by me and is recognised by the government. Where there have been issues, for example with PPE, we are working to resolve that.”