Covid-19: Scottish government failed to act on pre-pandemic advice to bolster PPE supplies, report finds

The Scottish government did not heed warnings before the pandemic that improvements were needed to the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), and it was not best prepared to respond to covid-19, Audit Scotland has reported.

The report called for better long term planning to secure supplies and ensure effective distribution of PPE to frontline services in any future emergency. It recognised that the challenges posed by covid-19 were “significant and unprecedented” and that the global market for PPE early in the pandemic …