PPE – Personal Protective Equipment

13/04/2020

Feeling confused on the PPE situation? Understandable if you are. On one side we have the Government stating there is enough PPE in the system and NHS workers have the protection they need but maybe aren’t using it appropriately – hugely insulting. As professionals the NHS staff know exactly how to use PPE appropriately to protect both them and their patients.

The opposing view is from NHS who state they don’t have enough and are risking their lives. Anyone would vote all NHS workers in hospitals, care homes, hospices, GP surgeries etc, should have more than enough PPE at their disposal. It should not be rationed.

For the first time today, analysis in The Times offers the view that maybe both sides are right. The NHS is massive and the billons of pieces of PPE that the Government have sourced just isn’t enough. See the feature below… ‘Suppliers struggle to fill demands’

This makes sense doesn’t it? With fashion houses making gowns etc for the NHS and FM companies like Churchill Services under the direction of Anthony one of their MDs using their 3D printers to make face masks – it seems we can make the equipment in the UK instead of buying cheap, single use disposable PPE from China. This could be sustainable and cost effective with specialised laundrettes like Geoffrey Gay’s below featured in The Times 13.4.20 enabling kit to be sterilised and used again.

Co-Vid 19 wil end eventually. Can lessons be learned from it’s impact on how to make the NHS sustainable by better procurement?

Only time will tell if logic will win……