“There was never a national shortage of PPE in the UK” Matt Hancock

The claim made by Matt Hancock that there was never a shortage of PPE in the UK last year has not surprisingly been met with a barrage of criticism from health professionals.

Rachel Clarke, the palliative care doctor and author, has described the Health Secretary's claim this morning in his interview on the BBC Today programme as a "lie".

She says "These words from Matt Hancock are categorically not true. I say this as someone who *begged* local veterinary practices & schools for masks & visors. Whose hospice nearly closed down through lack of PPE. This was happening up & down the country.

It was horrendous. The failures to provide PPE at the time were bad enough - but to lie about it now? Well that's inexcusable".

Last year local Lib Dems rallied round to help turn old sheets and duvets into gowns for Care Homes. If there was enough of the 'real thing', why was that necessary?

The spin that Matt Hanock is putting on the situation is that because (he claims) the country had sufficient supplies of PPE stored away somewhere in the country then there cannot be 'a national shortage'. However from what I have heard, when the pandemic was in its first phase

nobody had a clue as to where some of the supplies of PPE were stored

so it was not possible to even arrange for them to be moved quickly to where they were needed.

As with so many things this Government has got wrong, why can't they admit it?