Chancellor: PPE from Turkey is stranded due to ‘unexpected delays’

PPE from Turkey stranded due to ‘unexpected delays’

Sunak opens the briefing by getting straight to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) issue – he says the government has been “working hard” to make sure there is enough for NHS workers.

He says the government is “working to resolve” the issue of a batch stuck in Turkey due to “unexpected delays”.

The gowns, to protect those treating coronavirus patients, had been expected to arrive from Turkey on Sunday.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, the 400,000 gowns from Turkey would be welcome, NHS staff were getting through approximately 150,000 gowns a day.

on Sunday Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he was “hopeful” the Turkish flight would leave on Monday.

He said the government was “working very hard” to resolve the issue but added there had been “challenges at the Turkish end”.

Another 25 million gowns from China had also been procured and the UK would be “getting those shortly as well”, he added.

The first flight has now taken off with the last hour from the UK to travel to Turkey to pick up the PPE shipment.

However a scheduled time of return with the PPE has not been given.