Nicola Sturgeon said the Health Secretary is to raise concerns that PPE for care workers is being diverted to England with the UK Government.

It was reported that supplies were being prioritised for care homes south of the border.

Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, said he thought the claims were “rubbish” however the First Minister said they were a concern and she would be seeking reassurance.

Ms Sturgeon said it was “causing concern”.

She said: “We are aware of reports that supplies of PPE to care homes are being diverted to England.”

She said she was not aware that this was affecting the national stockpile but that the government was “extremely concerned” by the reports.

She said Jeane Freeman, the Health Secretary, would be raising the matter with her UK counterpart, Matt Hancock.

Ms Sturgeon added: “It’s a point about fairness. All parts of the UK are facing supply challenges."

She added any supplies being diverted would be “unconscionable”.

Ms Freeman said she is writing to Mr Hancock “urgently seeking clarity” on the reports.

She was to have had aphone call with Mr Hancock but he has cancelled it.

She said she will be telling him he does not have her agreement for centralisation of supplies or diversion of supplies.

A spokesman for the UK Government said: 

A UK Government spokesperson said: “Our PPE strategy is UK-wide, making sure that frontline workers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the PPE they need to stay protected while taking care of patients.

“Through this four-nation approach, we are working closely with the devolved administrations to co-ordinate the distribution of PPE evenly across the UK. To date, Scotland has received 11 million pieces of PPE from central UK stocks.

“We have not instructed any company to prioritise PPE for any one nation. Our UK-wide strategy will ensure equipment continues to be evenly distributed across the entire nation.”

Earlier, however, Jason Leitch had said: "We have looked into it and we think it's rubbish. So, the companies, and our colleagues at NHS England yesterday when we spoke to them, said it wasn't true.

"There's another element of this though, that the English route for PPE is one of three routes that Scotland has access to PPE from.

"So we are in a four-country fight against this virus. Honestly, people might not believe me, but that four-countries fight is pretty aligned."