I have received this update from the Government:
HMG published a PPE Plan on 10 April, setting out how we are addressing the need for critical PPE for those responding to the Covid-19 outbreak.
We are working closely with the devolved administrations to co-ordinate the
distribution of PPE evenly across the UK.
From 25th February to 16th April we have delivered nearly 850m items of PPE to NHS Trusts in England, plus tens of millions more items to Devolved Administrations, primary care and adult social care providers.
• Breakdown of items delivered to NHS Trusts:
o 132 million masks;
o 142 million aprons;
o 1.2 million gowns; and
o 456 million pairs of gloves.
Specifically for the social care sector, we have provided 7.8 million pieces of PPE to over 26,000 care settings around the country, with a further 34 million items of PPE released last week to local resilience forums.
In England, PPE can be accessed via:
1. The dedicated PPE Supply Channel set up by NHS Supply
Chain, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Unipart Logistics and supported by Clipper Logistics, who will be delivering the service
(This is live for NHS trusts and will be rolled out to other health and social care providers in the coming weeks)
2. Business as usual PPE suppliers/distributors (Open to everyone)
3. Dedicated wholesalers specifically for primary and social care providers (Stock has been released for onward sale to primary and social care providers)
4. Local Resilience Forums (Prioritising based on clinical need)
Further detail is available in the Covid-19: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Plan.
All health and social care providers have been provided with details of how to access PPE via these routes.
Additional routes we are bringing online
In the coming weeks we’ll be scaling up our PPE delivery system even further and will be rolling out a new website for ordering PPE, allowing primary and social care providers to request directly from a central inventory. Orders will be managed in line with the
published guidance from Public Health England, integrated with NHS Supply Chain’s central PPE logistic operations and shipped directly via Royal Mail.
In Northern Ireland, PPE can be accessed via:
1. NI’s Business Services Organisation who supply the Health and Social Care
Trusts, which then supply social care providers. Other primary care providers which provide Trust managed services get their supplies from BSO.
In Scotland, PPE can be accessed via:
1. National Health Services Scotland National Procurement
2. Direct contracts with existing suppliers
In Wales, PPE can be accessed via
1. NHS Wales Procurement Services
2. Direct contracts with existing suppliers
Health and social care providers across the UK can also contact the National Supply
Disruption Response system which can mobilise small priority orders of critical PPE to fulfil an emergency need. If providers do not already have the contact