Parts of the NHS in Scotland were at times left with only a day’s supply of PPE during the first wave, according to a new report from the national public spending watchdog.

Audit Scotland has also concluded the Scottish government did not learn from pre-covid pandemic practice exercises that recommended boosting PPE stockpiles.

The watchdog said that at the height of the first wave in April 2020, central stocks of personal protective equipment fell to just one day’s supply of FFP3 masks – high grade facemasks used in intensive care – and less than a day’s worth of long sleeve gowns.

Auditors report that some NHS boards held additional supplies locally – but others reported shortages at this time.

A Scottish government spokesperson insisted today that “Scotland never ran out of PPE”, although frontline workers in primary, community and social care reported shortages in the early days of the pandemic.

Audit Scotland’s report underlines the scale of the PPE challenge faced by the NHS in Scotland at the start of the pandemic.

In a normal year NHS National Services Scotland, which procures goods and services on behalf of NHS boards, distributes around 5.6 million items of PPE worth £162,000 each week.

During the pandemic this rocketed to 17.4 million items a week – costing around £3.6m – and amounting to over one billion items of PPE for Scotland over the course of the pandemic so far.

But the auditors reserve particular criticism for the Scottish government’s failure to plan ahead, saying it did not learn from pandemic preparedness exercises carried out before 2020.

Two pandemic practice exercises – Silver Swan in 2015 and Iris in 2018 – both identified access to and training for PPE as areas for improvement.

‘…The Scottish government did not fully implement the recommendations from these preparedness exercises and so could have been better prepared to respond to the covid-19 pandemic,’ Audit Scotland states.

Since the start of the pandemic, when protective kit was sourced from abroad, officials moved to support domestic supply chains and now 88% of PPE – excluding gloves – is sourced in Scotland.

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, accepts that services acted to address supplies:

“The Scottish government and NHS National Services Scotland worked well together under extremely challenging circumstances to set up new arrangements for the supply and distribution of PPE to health and social care settings.

"The challenge now will be in developing a longer-term approach to PPE supply and distribution that includes both business as usual needs as well as preparing for future pandemics."

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Scotland never ran out of PPE. Work undertaken by the Scottish government and its partner organisations at that time included setting up a whole new Scottish supply chain from scratch, with the creation of hundreds of jobs.

“The Scottish government agrees with Audit Scotland that we need to learn from this pandemic and bring that learning into planning for future pandemics – and that work is already underway.”

NHS National Services Scotland Chief Executive Mary Mowat said her organisation had worked 24/7 to overcome “unprecedented global demand and the collapse of international supply chains” during the first wave that caused prices to soar “unavoidably”.

“But the work of NSS - supported by partners across government, health and social care - has enabled more than a billion items of PPE to be sourced and supplied to date,” she added.

“We have also helped boost PPE manufacturing in Scotland, supporting firms and communities. Hundreds of jobs have been created as a result while ensuring self-sufficiency in PPE for Scotland.

“Lessons learned during the pandemic have already been implemented to further improve our service. We thank Audit Scotland for their report and will ensure its recommendations inform both our long-term planning and our day-to-day operations as we continue to work with Scottish government, Health & Social care colleagues and suppliers.”

 

Read more: NHS problems ‘still need fixed’ despite pandemic focus; PPE taskforce to address widespread staff concerns; GP uses bra as a facemask due to rural PPE shortage

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