The woman in charge of Newcastle 's hospitals has warned that global supply chain issues have led to shortages of vital medical kit including blood bottles, needles and syringes in recent weeks.
Dame Jackie Daniel, chief executive at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, has explained that there were "multiple disruptions" at any one time when it came to key supplies - but that hospital procurement staff were working to shield patients from the impact of this. This comes as the NHS faces unprecedented backlogs in care and huge pressures on its workforce.
Writing online, Dame Jackie said: "I wanted to highlight another area which impacts us all and which has probably become more complicated and acute now than it was during the pandemic – and that’s the supply chain. Our procurement team have been working non-stop to source stock, liaising with suppliers, distributers, senior managers, senior clinicians and the inventory teams in the Trust to tackle the supply issues which are related to global distribution shortages and the impact of Brexit."
