26.06.20
Two billion items of PPE delivered to frontline workers
Since the beginning of the current coronavirus outbreak, two billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) have now been successfully delivered to the NHS and social care staff across the UK, the government has announced.
In the face of unprecedented global demand and pressures on supply chains, the government, NHS, industry and the armed forces have managed to massively scale-up distribution networks to allow for the delivery of the PP.
The two billion items of PPE successfully delivered breaks down to:
- 341 million masks
- 313 million aprons
- 4 million gowns
- 1 billion gloves
A total of almost 28 billion items of PPE have been ordered overall from UK-based manufacturers and international partners during the pandemic to provide an uninterrupted supply in the coming months.
The ability to safely ensure continuous access to PPE for all NHS and care staff has been identified as a vital condition in order to ease the lockdown and start bringing back some normalcy and restarting a range of non-Covid procedures.
Matt Hancock, Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “Coronavirus has placed unprecedented global demands on PPE supply chains. To tackle this, we set a national challenge calling on companies to channel their manufacturing power into manufacturing much-needed PPE, and brought in Lord Deighton who has truly delivered once more for his country.
“Two billion items of PPE have now been delivered to the frontline, and a further 28 billion items sourced, that will protect frontline workers well into the future.
“It is thanks to the herculean effort from UK industry, the NHS and departmental teams, our diplomatic teams abroad, and the armed forces that we have now hit this impressive milestone.”
A cross-government effort was established early in the coronavirus outbreak to harness the manufacturing power of UK suppliers, build new relationships with overseas companies and set up new supply chains from scratch in a matter of weeks – seeking to overcome the initial shortages of PPE witnessed and avoid repeat occurrences.