Delivering more personal protective equipment for staff


The Government have announced their new plan to ensure the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) throughout the COVID19 pandemic:

https://bit.ly/CVPPEPR

Find the full PPE Plan here:

http://bit.ly/CVPPEPlan

Review the technical specifications for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) here:

http://bit.ly/CVPPETechSpec

Offer coronavirus (COVID-19) support from your business here:

https://bit.ly/CVBizSpt

Summary: Delivering more personal protective equipment for staff

As we face the Covid-19 pandemic, global demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has never been greater. Several countries have placed export bans on the sale of PPE. 

The UK Government and devolved administrations are committed to ensuring that those on the frontline in responding to Covid-19 are provided with the critical PPE they need to do their job safely. The Government’s PPE plan has three strands: guidance, distribution and future supply. Find the full PPE Plan here: http://bit.ly/CVPPEPlan 

We entered the crisis with a stockpile of sufficient medicines and consumables (including PPE) to respond to a reasonable worst-case influenza pandemic where 50% of the UK population becomes symptomatic. In England we held about 50,000 pallets of medicines and consumables (including PPE) to be able to respond to a future UK pandemic with the Devolved Administrations holding stockpiles separately for each of their nations. About 25,000 of those pallets held PPE and hygiene products.

However, our supply chain for PPE was designed to accommodate delivering to 226 NHS Trusts. To date, we have delivered 761 million pieces of PPE across the UK to 58,000 different settings including hospitals, hospices, care homes, home care providers, GPs, pharmacists and dentists. This has included 158 million masks, 1 million gowns, 135 million aprons and 360 million pairs of gloves. This has required a huge increase in logistics capability.

761 million pieces of PPE have been distributed

I know too often staff on the front line have needed more equipment and support but I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this tremendous achievement possible in unprecedented circumstances and just a few weeks.

In the coming weeks we will be scaling up our PPE delivery system even further, with a new website allowing the health and care system to order from a central inventory.

Our PPE supply chain

Although the UK was prepared with a stockpile of PPE, we must ensure we are buying and making more to see us through this pandemic. To do this we are building new PPE production in the UK in a remarkable national effort.

A new, dedicated unit has been set up to focus on securing supplies of PPE, whilst ensuring that specifications match clinical need, supply chains are secure, fraud is mitigated and the best value for money is achieved in a high demand market. Although many potential leads have not resulted in a viable product, Government continues to work through the offers made. These have resulted in orders placed of around £200m in the first three weeks of sourcing.

In addition to buying more PPE, businesses and organisations generously offered their own stocks of PPE in this national effort for use by the NHS and public organisations. Locally in Wycombe, schools have played their part and aerospace manufacturer Sabeti Wain has been making scrubs for Bucks Healthcare.

The Government continue to work round the clock to make sure all staff who need protective equipment have access to it, so they are well-equipped to continue to fight this disease, protect themselves and save lives. 

Unleashing the potential of industry to make more PPE – a call to action

The Government are also pursuing a brand new ‘Make’ strategy of encouraging UK manufacturers to produce PPE. There has been limited UK manufacture of PPE to date: new supply channels for materials to make PPE have been sourced at pace in order to enable new manufacturing to commence.

Each offer from industry is followed up with technical checks on their safety and effectiveness before the products are used within the NHS and care sector. The large number of offers means that it has been taking some time to respond. This is because Government have a rigorous process in place and are checking at every step to ensure that the offers meet our safety requirements. The Government are grateful for each offer that is being made.

The Government would welcome support from manufacturers who wish to offer their production facilities where they can meet the required specifications for use by the NHS and care sector. 

To assist in this call to action potential manufacturers can access the specifications at http://bit.ly/CVPPETechSpec

New offers can be made via https://bit.ly/CVBizSpt

Conclusion

Finally, I want to thank everyone who is playing their part in defeating this virus. PPE is only part of the story. 

The first steps that we all must take, regardless of where we work, to protect people from the transmission of Covid-19 are:

  • to remain more than two metres away from anyone who is confirmed to have Covid-19 or someone who is showing symptoms unless absolutely necessary,
  • remain more than two metres away from anyone who doesn’t live in your household, wherever possible,
  • self-isolate if you are symptomatic,
  • follow 14-day household quarantine rules if someone you live with becomes symptomatic,
  • employ good hand hygiene, following advice and appropriate thorough handwashing.

Thank you for following these steps. Find out more about what you can and can’t do here: https://bit.ly/UKCVFAQ 

Together, we will get through this pandemic and recover.

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