The distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) is getting "bogged down by bureaucracy" says mayor Andy Burnham. Half a million surgical masks destined for Greater Manchester are currently being held up at Heathrow Airport he revealed as he laid out the steps that are being taken to ensure frontline health and social care workers do not go without.
The region has set up a taskforce to ensure PPE is directed to where it is needed, and local health chiefs have directly ordered 14.5 million items in addition to their deliveries from national stocks.
So far Greater Manchester has received 3.6m items of PPE from the national pandemic stock and of the 14.5m items acquired through direct procurement – 3.1m have already delivered with 7.5m