This was the magnificent sight yesterday as one million protective aprons were delivered to the NHS.
Less than 24 hours after being made, the crucial Mail Force Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was handed over.
Box after box of aprons were unloaded at a depot in the Midlands which is the nerve centre of the NHS’s PPE operation.
The donations were quickly logged on the NHS system, ready to be shipped out to the doctors, nurses and paramedics all over the country who desperately need them.
The first shipment of Mail Force’s UK made PPE arrives by lorry at the NHS distribution Centre in Nottinghamshireready for distribution to the corona virus front lines. Above is warehouse logistics manager Laura Brawn
Mail Force has ordered 1.5 million aprons, to be delivered by the end of this month. Yesterday’s lorry contained the first half-million of these, plus another half-million that were ordered directly by the NHS
Yesterday’s shipment was the first mass delivery of Mail Force aprons under a new partnership set up only last week.
The Mail Force charity — set up by the Daily Mail and its partners to help solve the PPE crisis — has begun working with the Issa Group, a Lancashire-based family business that has turned local factories into PPE production lines.
Mail Force has ordered 1.5 million aprons, to be delivered by the end of this month. Yesterday’s lorry contained the first half-million of these, plus another half-million that were ordered directly by the NHS.
The Mail Force aprons were manufactured on Thursday at a factory in Blackburn. From a drum of white granules melted and pressed into rolls of plastic sheeting that are stamped out and cut into aprons, the process takes just one hour
Dozens of staff at the vast NHS depot — the size of three football pitches — are working around the clock to process donations and purchases of PPE.
Senior manager Laura Brawn said: ‘Everyone is so proud to be working here. It’s long hours and hard work, but every time you see a lorry go out with a big load of PPE, taking it to the frontline, it gives us all an immense sense of purpose.
‘We all see the stories about nurses and doctors having to work in those wards, and it motivates every one of us to get on and do the job.
‘There is a great team effort on the warehouse floor, and everyone knows what they are doing and why. We’ve just got to get on with it, and make sure the PPE gets to the right places as fast as possible.’
The Mail Force aprons were manufactured on Thursday at a factory in Blackburn.
From a drum of white granules melted and pressed into rolls of plastic sheeting that are stamped out and cut into aprons, the process takes just one hour.
Every apron is about 30 per cent thicker than the cheaper imported aprons usually bought by the NHS, making them more robust and less likely to tear.
Dozens of staff at the vast NHS depot — the size of three football pitches — are working around the clock to process donations and purchases of PPE
Issa Dasu Patel, new products manager at the Issa Group, said: ‘There were very few of these aprons made in the UK before the Covid crisis. Now we are producing millions, and getting them to the frontline very quickly.
‘We are selling them pretty much at cost price, which keeps the prices down and at the same time keeps all our staff in employment.
‘It is a 24/7 operation and everyone is putting in the hours to get the orders out.
‘It’s our business but it’s also serving the country. Mail Force, and the donations from Mail readers, combined with our ability to manufacture these aprons quickly, means we are getting PPE to where it is needed fast. All this has been achieved in less than a week.’
Mr Dasu Patel drove from Lancashire to the Midlands depot to see his aprons handed over.
‘I wanted to witness it, because it is a really proud moment,’ he said. ‘We are all doing something to help our country, and that is motivating all our employees. Everyone knows someone affected by Covid. This is the closest our generation comes to a wartime-style effort.’
Corona victim with family on hospital frontline gives £50k
By Arthur Martin for The Daily Mail
A property developer who was stricken with coronavirus has donated £50,000 to Mail Force. Bruce Ritchie, 55, suffered acute pains in his back, chest and internal organs.
The owner of Residential Land Group, said the effects of the illness lasted for two weeks and were ‘deeply unpleasant’.
He pledged the money towards Mail Force’s PPE campaign to show his support to those risking their safety on the Covid-19 frontline.
Mr Ritchie said the shortages of safety kit experienced by his sister-in-law, an NHS doctor, also encouraged him to support the charity.
Philanthropist Bruce Ritchie (above with wife Shadi) pledged the money towards Mail Force’s PPE campaign to show his support to those risking their safety on the Covid-19 frontline
He said: ‘She is a senior obstetrics and gynaecology consultant and she has been on the frontline without protective gear.
‘She gave hers to the junior doctors and nurses working around her. It touches me that someone cares enough to do the right thing for everyone.
‘That’s a member of my family putting herself at risk to help out juniors — but this should never have been the case. Thankfully she never got the infection.
HERE’S HOW TO DONATE
Mail Force Charity has been launched with one aim to help support NHS staff, volunteers and care workers fight back against Covid-1 in the UK.
Mail Force is a separate charity established and supported by the Daily Mail and General Trust.
The money raised will fund essential equipment required by the NHS and care workers.
This equipment is vital in protecting the heroic staff whilst they perform their fantastic work in helping the UK overcome this pandemic.
If we raise more money than is needed for vital Covid-1 equipment, we will apply all funds to support the work of the NHS in other ways.
Click the button below to make a donation:
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‘I’ve had it and have got through it. I had back pains, organ pains and chest pains. I couldn’t work out whether I had drunk too much, was having a heart attack, or what was going on.’
Mr Ritchie, who is married to Shadi and has two teenage children, described Mail Force as ‘a great cause and the right cause’.
He said: ‘What should be remembered from this crisis is those people that work in the NHS and health industry. They are the heroes we are all clapping for every Thursday and that we are all proud of. It’s the best of British.’
Mr Ritchie said it was ‘outrageous’ that some medical staff have run out of personal protective equipment, adding: ‘The intervention of Mail Force is superb and the charity should push on with this campaign because we will need PPE for a long time.
‘It strikes me as remarkable how unprepared we were. But the crisis has gone on long enough for us to start manufacturing this kit in the UK by now.
‘The fact that Mail Force is raising the money and is pushing this issue — hats off to the charity and I am happy to help.’
The donation by the philanthropist, who also supports a charitable campaign by restaurant tycoon Richard Caring to feed those in need, helped take the total funds raised to £7.2million last night.
Donations from 44,000 Mail readers have reached almost £2.2million.
Other philanthropists who have pledged money include Tetra Pak heiress Julia Rausing, who donated £1million, while Sir Brian Souter, founder of Stagecoach, has given £500,000.
Household names backing the charity include Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Michael Caine and Dame Vera Lynn.
Mail Force to the rescue of ambulance heroes
Paramedic Samantha Westwell welcomed the Mail Force delivery of life-saving equipment carried by every ambulance crew.
Boxes containing hundreds of aprons, as well as visors and sanitisers, were driven from Lancashire — where they had been produced for Mail Force in a former Blackburn cotton mill — to East Midlands Ambulance Service’s central stock centre in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
Ambulance Operations Manager Samantha Westwell for The East Midlands Ambulance Service pictured wearing PPE supplied by Mail Force. The donation also included personal issue hand sanitiser. She is pictured above with colleagues general manager Steve Farnsworth (left) and director of operations Ben Holdaway (right)
From there it will be allocated to crews or sent on to other, smaller warehouses for distribution to paramedics throughout Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire.
Mrs Westwell said the polythene aprons are donned by paramedics before every patient they treat, adding: ‘This will help us greatly — we are really grateful for the extra support.’
Steve Farnsworth, general manager for fleet and logistics at the Alfreton base, said: ‘I saw somebody on TV who said that this crisis has shown how British people react and pull together.
‘That is so true, everybody is looking out for each other and doing their best.’
Mail Force donated 6,000 single use aprons to East Midlands Ambulance Service.