RAF jet sets off to bring vital PPE to the UK from Turkey for desperate NHS workers – but it could take days to arrive

DESPERATE officials scrambled an RAF plane to Turkey yesterday to collect a delayed delivery of gowns — but it could still be sat on the tarmac for days.

Health chiefs have repeatedly warned supplies are critically low and medics could be forced to work without them in hours.

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Ministers raised hopes by promising 400,000 from Turkey on Sunday but they have so far failed to arrive.

The MoD said a cargo plane left RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at about 4.30pm on Monday to collect the order.

Two more jets are on standby but sources say the full consignment is still not ready and may not arrive here until the end of the week.

Today Local Government Minister Simon Clarke insisted it would be in Britain "in the next few days".

Asked whether it had left Turkey yet, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I can't speak to that, I'm afraid. All I know is it set off last night.

"It will be with us obviously in the UK in the next few days, which is the core priority."

The personal protective equipment is thought to be awaiting quality checks, although Turkey have blamed the UK for the delay.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “We’re working to resolve the Turkish shipment of PPE as soon as possible, following some unexpected delays at the weekend.”

A separate order of 140,000 gowns arrived from Myanmar yesterday — but the NHS is getting through 150,000 a day.

On Friday, bosses warned the NHS could run out within hours.

The Government has appointed 2012 Olympics chief Lord Deighton to lead a national effort to increase PPE production in the UK.

Some 6,000 companies have offered to help but there is a global shortage of materials to make it.

NHS leaders claim staff are going without PPE because foreign suppliers have let them down.

One shipment from China was found to contain just 20,000 gowns when it should have had 200,000. Others have failed safety tests while some were mislabelled.

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NHS trusts are getting them from vets and builders’ merchants while some are reusing single-use gowns.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said huge orders for PPE were placed on January 30.

He added: “If those orders had actually come in to time and quality, then we wouldn’t have been in this position.”

Mr Hopson said the delayed delivery of 400,000 gowns was not the first time the NHS had been let down by suppliers.

He added: “Bitter experience over the last few weeks has shown that until a consignment of gowns has landed, the boxes have been checked and the equipment tested, the NHS can’t count on the gowns being available for use at the front line.”

Mr Hopson said some trusts were washing them at 60C. He added: “No-one in the NHS wanted to be where we now are on gowns, with a significant number of trusts reporting critically low stocks.”

A Turkish official said the UK only applied for permission to export the PPE on Sunday evening and the supplier submitted its request yesterday.

They added: “There was never a problem from the Turkish authorities — on the contrary, all permissions have been issued very swiftly.” The PM’s spokesman said plenty more orders were lined up, including 25million from China.

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But unions last night called for a judge-led inquiry into the “grotesque failure” of PPE planning.

TUC chief Frances O’Grady also backed members who refuse to work because of a lack of protective kit. Palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke said staff are given a “skimpy plastic pinny” which fails to cover arms and the top of the chest, increasing risk of infection.

But a Tory MP who joined the front line as a nurse claimed reports of PPE shortages were scare stories. Maria Caulfield, who represents Lewes, in East Sussex, said there was plenty of kit in hospitals.

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