Frontline workers will now be able to request the PPE they need to protect them from coronavirus online.
In Friday's press conference, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said : “I can announce that over the next three weeks we’re rolling out an online portal, allowing primary care and social care a system so that they can request from a central inventory, and this will mean that we can track demand in real time, and deliver according to need.
“This Herculean effort of enormous operational complexity, to get the right piece of equipment to the right person at the right moment – I pay tribute to the enormous efforts of all those who are making it happen,” he said.
He added his goal is that “everyone” working in a critical role must get the personal protective equipment (PPE) that they need.
Mr Hancock said that since the start of the outbreak there have been more than 742 million pieces of PPE delivered to the frontline.
“This includes 161 million masks, 127 million aprons, a million gowns and 345 million pairs of gloves,” he said.
Mr Hancock said every NHS hospital has received a delivery of critical PPE once every 72 hours, and over the next week this is being made daily.
However there is a “huge international demand” for PPE and a “global squeeze” on supply.
The Government is publishing a new three-strand PPE plan, he added: “There’s enough PPE to go around, but only if it’s used in line with our guidance.
"We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is.
“That means only using it when there’s a clinical need, and not using more than is needed.”
Mr Hancock said the second strand of the PPE plan is about distribution, saying: “This is a Herculean logistical effort. We’ve brought together the NHS, private industry and the army, in fact, the armed forces, to create a giant PPE distribution network on an unprecedented scale,” he said.
Mr Hancock said the UK was creating a domestic PPE manufacturing industry, as it has done already with ventilators.
He is now appealing for British business to help with PPE production. He said: “We’re using up PPE on an unprecedented scale, so we’re constantly buying more from abroad, and now making it at home.
“I want to thank Burberry with their offers of gowns, Rolls-Royce and McLaren who are creating visors, Ineos and Diageo who are producing hand sanitiser.
“We’re talking to many others, and we want more to step up to the plate.
“So if you’ve got production facilities, and you can meet our published technical specifications, we want to hear from you.
“So that we can make this kit here in Britain that’ll keep people safe.”
