Firm left in lurch over PPE order

A PPE manufacturer in Ayr has been forced to give free face shields to desperate nurses after NHS officials U- turned on a huge order.

Adam Short started producing thousands of masks at his laser cutting plant in response to government pleas to help equip staff on Covid- 19 wards.

But he claims frontline workers are now having to come to him direct after a deal to produce 16,000 visors was cancelled by NHS Ayrshire and Arran at short notice – leaving him £ 12,000 in debt.

Now Adam, who runs the Tsukure social enterprise workshop in Ayr, claims his business faces an uncertain future after the deal turned sour.

He said: “I’m upset and let down by the way we’ve been treated.

“It also really makes me worry about the way this whole crisis is being handled at the top level because it looks like there is a lot of incompetence and confusion.

“NHS Ayrshire and Arran said they needed face masks and they were interested in buying 8000 to 16,000 initially, while wanting to also be able to place weekly orders.

“We had already worked out a design for a mask to supply to smaller charities and carers in the community so we immediately looked at how we could ramp up production to meet the demand. The NHS procurement manager gave us an £ 8000 deposit and we spent £ 20,000 increasing our production capacity with new materials and everything else needed.

“But after weeks of frustrating tooing and froing, we were suddenly told that only enough masks to cover the deposit would now be purchased – just over 2000 in total – and nothing further was needed.

“The impression we were given was that other manufacturers were now available so our products weren’t needed any more.

“We’re around £ 12,000 down on all the materials and other things we had put in place – I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep our doors open.”

Medics, trade unions and opposition politicians have complained about the lack of PPE being given to key workers.

Crawford McGuffie, medical director at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: “We can confirm the CEO of Tsukure approached us earlier this month with an offer to manufacture and supply single- use, full- face visors.

“This offer was developed, and an agreement reached, to manufacture and supply an agreed quantity of this PPE.”

The Scottish Government said: “We have adequate stock of all forms of PPE supplies for the current level of demand.”