Thanks offered for homemade PPE donations across Shropshire – but people urged to check specifications
Shropshire health bosses say they have been heartened by the generous offers of homemade protective equipment – but are reminding people they can only accept donations that meet required safety standards.
Those who have offered their support to health and care providers across the county have been thanked.
But health chiefs also say that care organisations, from hospitals to care homes, have to ensure PPE used by their staff meets approved quality and safety standards.
Nicky Jacques, chief officer of Shropshire Partners in Care, said: “On behalf of the care sector, we are so grateful for every single offer of support and hope people understand that, in order to properly protect the individuals we care for and our staff, all donations of PPE have to meet the right standards.
“This means that whilst we are really heartened to see such levels of kindness, care providers unfortunately cannot accept or use homemade PPE that doesn't meet the required safety standards.”
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A new emergency PPE helpline has been launched for frontline services which have been unable to source supplies through their usual routes.
GPs, care homes, domiciliary care providers and personal assistants can access the service by completing a PPE request form online.
Dave Evans, joint accountable officer for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups, said while supply chains have been put under significant pressure during the pandemic, a system has been devised to check stock levels.
Businesses have also been keen to offer their support and the Shropshire healthcare procurement service, hosted by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has set up a process to boost usual supplies and manage the many kind offers on behalf of the system.
Paula Davies, head of procurement at SaTH, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, said: “We have received numerous offers from organisations to make and supply PPE.
“Whilst we are extremely grateful for these offers from local businesses, like all organisations providing health and social care services, we have a duty of care to ensure PPE used by our colleagues meets the technical specifications to protect our staff and the people they care for from infection.
"To support this, we are asking businesses who wish to produce or donate PPE to check the specifications before contacting us.”
Suppliers are now able to register their PPE by filling out an online form at sath.nhs.uk/covid19/ppe or by emailing sath.procurementequipcovid@nhs.net
They can also check their PPE meets the necessary safety and quality standards by reading the Government’s guidance on technical specifications for PPE at gov.uk/government/publications/technical-specifications-for-personal-protective-equipment-ppe
