Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to non-NHS physiotherapy services to ensure that those services can access suitable personal protective equipment.

The personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for non-National Health Service physiotherapists are set out in the COVID-19 infection prevention guidance, which is published on GOV.UK. This recommends that where possible and clinically appropriate remote consultations rather than face-to-face should be offered to patients. Where this is not possible, guidance on what PPE is required in different settings is set out. Non-NHS physiotherapists are essentially commercial enterprises and are able to procure PPE from their normal suppliers.