Personal protective equipment - future supply: consultation analysis

Introduction

Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply in Scotland. In response, the Scottish Government worked with partners to quickly establish new supply chains and put in place cross public sector collaboration with the NHS on PPE supply issues.

In June 2021 an Audit Scotland report examined the Scottish Government's approach to PPE supply during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report stated that a new, long term approach to PPE supply was required, for both business as usual PPE needs as well as preparing for future pandemics.

The Scottish Government is now working with partners such as the NHS to ensure Scotland is fully prepared for any future pandemic situation through the PPE Supply Implementation Project. This Programme is implementing plans for new approaches to pandemic PPE which will ensure Scotland learns from experience, promotes innovation, and has strong, sustainable foundations for the provision of PPE in any future pandemic.

A public consultation on the future supply of pandemic PPE ran between 25 January and 22 March 2022. While aimed primarily at public sector organisations and social care settings, the consultation was an opportunity for the Scottish Government to understand a wide variety of stakeholders' views. This insight will be used to inform future policy development and to ensure pandemic PPE supply arrangements meet the needs of all the organisations within scope.

The consultation paper published on the Scottish Government's website comprised 19 closed and 10 open questions asked across two sections. Section one outlined the lessons learned from PPE supply during the Covid-19 pandemic and sought views on whether those lessons are appropriate and if any have been omitted. The second section asked for views on the broad principles of the proposed supply arrangements. This report presents an independent analysis of responses to the consultation questions.

Profile of respondents

In total, 164 consultation responses were received; 85 from individuals and 79 from organisations. Most were submitted via the online consultation platform, Citizen Space. Those received in an alternative format, for example, a PDF document, were entered into Citizen Space by the Scottish Government.

Respondents were asked to select from a list which sector best represented who they worked for, or their organisation. There were 24 responses from local authorities including adult social care settings, private and third sector run adult social care settings, and NHS board services including hospital and community services. Private businesses and third sector organisations providing essential public services gave 23 responses, followed by 18 primary care independent contractors, 11 Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP) and nine other public sector e.g. prisons, fire service, police service. Seven membership / representative bodies also responded. A full breakdown is provided in Appendix A.

Analysis approach

The Lines Between was commissioned to provide robust, independent analysis of the consultation responses. This report presents the range of views expressed by consultation respondents under each section of the consultation document. A public consultation means anyone can express their views; individuals and organisations with an interest in the topic are more likely to respond than those without. This self-selection means the respondents' views do not necessarily represent the views of the population.

Quantitative analysis

There were 18 closed questions in the consultation. However, because respondents did not answer every question, the quantitative analysis presented in this report is based on those who did answer. A full breakdown of the number and percentage response to each question is in Appendix B. Please note that figures may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Qualitative analysis

Qualitative analysis outlines the key themes identified in responses to each question. The analyst team coded each response against a coding framework which was developed based on a review of the consultation questions and a sample of responses. In a small number of instances where alternative format responses contained information that did not align to specific questions, analysts exercised judgement about the most relevant place to include this material for analysis purposes.

A few organisations provided detailed responses relating to their subject matter expertise. There is not scope in this report to fully summarise these responses; however, the responses are referenced where possible. Where appropriate, quotes from individuals and organisations are included to illustrate key points and to provide useful examples, insights and contextual information. Full responses to the consultation, where permission for publication was granted, can be found on the Scottish Government's website.

Weight of opinion

Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions does not permit the quantification of results. To assist the reader in interpretation of findings, we use a framework to convey the most to least commonly identified themes across responses to each question:

• The most common / second most common theme; the most frequently identified.
• Many respondents; more than 20, another prevalent theme.
• Several respondents; 10-19, a recurring theme.
• Some respondents; 5-9, another theme.
• A few / a small number of respondents; <5, a less commonly mentioned theme.
• Two/one respondents; a singular comment or a view identified in two responses.