The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Protective gloves sent to NHS
Under-pressure healthcare workers caring for coronavirus victims are to get vital protective gear from a medical gloves manufacturer in Peterborough.
Lorry loads of specialist nitrile, latex and vinyl examination gloves are on their way from the premises of Supermax Healthcare, in Titan Drive, Fengate, for use by doctors and nurses in their desperate battle to care for victims of coronavirus.
The entire stock of 88.5 million medical gloves held at the Supermax factory has been bought by the government for use by NHS healthcare workers.
Some 43 heavy good vehicles have been drafted in to transport the gloves with some heading to the new super-hospital, the Nightingale Hospital in London.
The mammoth delivery comes as concern grows across the country that many NHS staff do not have enough of the right equipment to protect them from infection as they care for their patients.
Iain Crawford, group managing director of the £26 million turnover business, said: “A week ago we were approached by NHS Supply Chain, on behalf of the government’s Department of Health and Social Care requesting all of our stock currently being held in our UK warehouses of Nitrile, Latex & Vinyl examination gloves.
“Our entire company agreed it was without question the right and proper thing to do.
“Every glove we currently have in the UK– 88.5 million – is currently being processed and will mean 43 truckloads will be leaving us.”
Director Kelly Crawford added: “Supermax has been a proud supplier to the NHS for many years and when the request came from them it was something that we knew we had to give serious consideration to.
“The impact this has on the remainder of our customer base is not something we have under-estimated, we know this decision will have a huge impact on our business but also on all of theirs as well – we promise we will help them all in the future as the country starts the re-building process after covid-19 passes.”