Welsh Government Press Note: Health Minister Vaughan Gething responds to UK PPE Plan

Response from the Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, to the UK PPE plan announced by Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, earlier today.

Minister for Health and Social Services Vaughan Gething said:

“I welcome this new strategy to ensure we are able to get the right personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline health and social care workers.

“It makes sense the four UK nations work together on procurement of PPE rather than compete against each other.

“In Wales, we are already working with businesses to manufacture more PPE. I have been overwhelmed by the swift and generous response from companies to help.

“We have been working hard to get PPE to frontline health and social care staff – so far we have distributed more than 8m extra pieces of PPE from our pandemic stocks, over and above the usual supplies, which are held by the NHS. We are also working with military planners to refine  our distribution plans in Wales.

“New guidance on PPE has been developed for health and social care staff – it is really important this is followed and PPE is used in line with the guidance. Every piece of PPE kit used unnecessarily is a piece of kit which will not be available to a member of staff at risk.

“Frontline NHS and social care staff are working hard, in difficult circumstances, to care for people with coronavirus. It is vital they can do their jobs safely and with confidence. We must make sure they have the equipment to do that.”

 ENDS