An RAF plane, believed to be carrying a delayed consignment of personal protective equipment for NHS staff, has landed in the UK.
Flight tracker RadarBox showed the Airbus A400-M registered ZM416 depart Istanbul and land just after 3.30am on Wednesday at RAF Brize Norton.
The plane had been dispatched from the Oxfordshire base, where two other planes are on stand-by to pick up further kit from Turkey, late on Monday.
It is not known if the consignment, which was ordered on Thursday and originally due to arrive on Sunday, includes 400,000 badly-needed surgical gowns.
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There is a global of shortage of PPE and the Government has been criticised over its efforts to secure the essential equipment for healthcare workers.
Doctors reacted with fury on Sunday at the delay, demanding ministers be held to account for the PPE shortages forcing medics to treat patients with inadequate kit.
The failure has led top medics to brand ministers’ treatment of NHS staff “shameful”.
The key delivery of 84 tons of PPE, including gowns, was promised within 24 hours on Saturday by Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick at the daily media briefing.
But it never arrived and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said on Sunday the RAF was on standby to bring it from Turkey.
As Boris Johnson faced fury over his shambolic handling of the crisis and his failure to attend five Cobra meetings in January and February, doctors spoke of their dismay at the missing PPE shipment.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA, said: “Doctors were banking on the Government’s announcement of imminent extra supplies of PPE from overseas.
“This really is a matter of life and death.
"Doctors and healthcare staff are left fearful for their own health and safety – this is shameful.”
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association said staff are being asked to “sacrifice” themselves by working with inadequate kit, weeks after they warned of shortages.
The BMA said manufacturers had “hit a brick wall” trying to offer PPE to the Government.
Dr Claudia Paoloni, of the HCSA, said: “The Government must come clean on PPE and set out how it intends to get on top of this disgraceful situation with actions, not spin.
“We expect those responsible to be held accountable for their abject failure to protect our heroic frontline staff.
“The phrase ‘lions led by donkeys’ has never felt more appropriate.”
Dr Nagpaul said doctors treating coronavirus patients are “extremely afraid”.
He said: “Even more stressful is that doctors and other healthcare workers are treating their colleagues in intensive care on ventilators and, tragically, see some of them not survive.”
He said the BMA had written to the Government two weeks ago to pass on the names of around 70 firms which could make PPE but “hit a brick wall” as it was not followed up.
He said: “We made it clear weeks ago that we need to do something about the likelihood of a lack of PPE.”
Prof Neil Mortensen, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the advice to reuse PPE and advised surgeons “not to risk their health”.
