Care home industry leaders have alleged that orders of supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) intended to protect staff and residents in social care settings are being requisitioned by the NHS for use in hospitals. Attempts to independently source PPE have, in some cases, been thwarted after care homes were told by suppliers that their orders had in effect been diverted to NHS hospitals. Labour MP James Murray, a member of the Commons health and social care select committee, has written to the health secretary Matt Hancock to ask him to urgently review the government’s strategy for supplying PPE to care homes. We need the tools to care for them.”The Department for Health and Social Care was contacted for comment. Hancock, who is in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus, wrote an open letter of thanks to social care workers at the weekend in which he promised the government was committed to doing “whatever is needed” for social care and the NHS.

Source: The Guardian March 30, 2020 18:00 UTC