Local NHS services are still calling on businesses for donations of PPE – the Personal Protection Equipment that has made so many headlines over the past months and is vital in keeping frontline NHS staff as safe as possible.
On Tuesday the Clinical Commissioning Group that holds the NHS budget and commissions primary and hospital care for Bath & North-East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, made a fresh appeal for donations of PPE:
“We would still be very grateful for any donations of PPE from businesses and organisations that have a surplus at the moment. You can email us at bswccg.ppe.covid@nhs.net“
On 20 April marlborough.news reported that BSWCCG were asking for donations of ‘Aprons, masks, gloves, visors, sanitiser, wipes…’ And they reported a very welcome response to their appeal.
Now they are asking for ‘any donations’ of PPE, but especially for some more technical items: “Gowns, FFP3 masks (dust masks) & fit test fluid – to test the seal of masks”.
We have reported on the great efforts by St John’s school staff and pupils with their 3D printers, Dobie Wyatt of Cadley – masks and visors, Ramsbury Brewery (sanitiser) and the ladies sewing gowns at the Marlborough College laundry.
But it seems that the PPE crisis – although suddenly out of the national headlines – is by no means over. For example, elsewhere in Britain the Merseyside PPE Hub have produced 30,000 visors: On Monday they tweeted: “UNBELIEVABLE! Last week the Merseyside PPE Hub manufactured and distributed 10,000 visors! Thanks to all our school partners, small businesses and the 3D team!”
Complaints like this one on Twitter (May 9) are still all too common: “So yesterday I worked on a unit with immunosuppressed patients. There wasn’t a single visor on the ward that was supplied by this government or the NHS. They were all made and gifted by people with 3D printers… Shameful.”
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