Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding by the Royal College of Physicians that access to personal protective equipment declined over the month of April 2020.

We are working around the clock to give the social care sector and wider National Health Service the equipment and support they need to tackle this outbreak. The Government published ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): personal protective equipment (PPE) plan’ on 10 April. It incorporates guidance on who needs PPE and when they need it, routes to ensure those who need it can get it at the right time and sets out actions to secure enough PPE to last through the crisis.

Systems set up to supply 226 NHS trusts have increased their operations in a matter of weeks to provide drops of critical equipment to 58,000 healthcare settings including general practitioners, pharmacies and social care providers. The creation of this PPE distribution network has required a huge increase in the logistics capability.