Scotland avoided PPE VIP Lane due to the devolution, a British investigation Covid-19 said

Former Scottish Secretary of Health, Jeane Freeman told the British investigation COVID-19 that she thought that Scotland had avoided a VIP path to obtain personal protective equipment (EPI) due to devolution.

Freeman was politically responsible for ensuring that health personnel had access to the EPI, heard the investigation, during the evidence concerning the supply of the PPE.

Giving evidence, Ms. Freeman praised the NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and said that she was minimizing the cost of supply because you do so on such a scale, although she recognized that the country had often just lacking key articles.

She rejected the allegations of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the United Kingdom should have only one route, the investigation heard.

The investigation lawyer, Tom Stoate, said: the investigation has heard of the evidence of a high priority or a VIP route for the purchase of EPI. You talked about the functioning of the NSS. Did it mean that Scotland needed an accelerated system?

Ms. Freeman said: Absolutely not. We had aid offers, which were all transmitted to the NSS. An appropriate sorting process would apply.

She said reasonable diligence would be applied to help decide whether new offers were appropriate to award new contracts.

Ms. Freeman added: Audit Scotland said that in 2021, there was no evidence of bias. We didn't have a VIP track and we didn't need it.

In my opinion, there are many questions to ask the VIP track and the application of reasonable diligence and probity to any supply offer when you use public money, and when the quality and relevance of PPE are essential to the safety of your staff and the patients they treat.

Has Mr. Stoate asked: Was Scotland short of EPI key elements?

Ms. Freeman said: No. We say that we were exhausted at any time; We have often got closer.

Asked about a declaration by Mr. Johnson that we should try to proceed as a United Kingdom concerning supply, Ms. Freeman said: if what the former PM means is that we should have a single supply path, I do not agree.

I think that removes the democratic responsibility for the devolution of the Scottish government, secondly, the road that the British government has taken with the VIP route is not the one I wish that Scotland takes.

Having only one system could lead to a system where Scottish ministers are responsible for the actions in which they do not have a say.

Caroline Lamb, Director General of NHS Scotland and Director General of Health and Social Services, told the survey that about 75,000 NHS staff members had now been tested for FFP3 masks following the pandemic, against around 7,000 before.

Giving evidence, she said that in May 2020, Scotland provided two million FFP3 masks to England and two million people in Wales.

Ms. Lamb said: May was in the period when everyone worked very hard to provide the necessary PPE. As soon as we had this comfort that we could provide what was necessary in Scotland, we were very eager to provide mutual aid to other nations.

Relations at an official level have never been bad, but what has improved is that the recognition that collaboration is great, but you must be equal partners in this collaboration and accept the skills and expertise of all Bodys.

She added: The share of Scotland of British stocks was not large enough to deal with the magnitude of the pandemic we have known. We have worked now to set up an overvoltage capacity. Just in time can work when demand is foreseeable enough, but we must have the capacity for the capacity to strengthen stocks to meet demand.

Under the counter-examination of Leslie Thomas KC, representing the Federation of Health Organizations of Ethnic Minorities, she said that the efforts had been passed to the EPI of adjustment for NHS staff.

Ms. Lamb said: What has become clear in pandemic is that a size does not necessarily correspond to everyone and there was a problem for minority ethnic groups and women; There is a different range of crises available, we have also worked in close collaboration with a supplier in Scotland to understand demographic data and not only the understanding of the supply, but that people who need this supply have been tested.

The figures went from 7,000 pre-countryic pre-formal to around 75,000 in 2023.

It is not only a question of having the confidence that you have of supplies to meet the needs of people, it is that they are comfortable that they can meet the needs of people.