Coronavirus: New hub to distribute protective equipment to Fife health workers

NHS Fife has established a new hub to distribute quantities of personal protective equipment to healthcare sites across the Kingdom.

Ensuring that healthcare staff have the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is crucial, both as a means of protecting staff and patients and in reducing the spread of the virus.

Over recent weeks a significant logistical operation has been undertaken to distribute large amounts of PPE to healthcare workers.

This has led to the opening of a new PPE distribution centre at Whyteman’s Brae Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

It will help NHS Fife to provide supplies of important PPE quickly and efficiently to staff working in the Kingdom’s communities and hospitals.

Margo McGurk, director of finance, said: “The importance of PPE in reducing the spread of this virus is well-established, and our procurement and transport teams have worked closely with our clinical teams over recent weeks to ensure that our staff have ready access to appropriate PPE at all times.

“The scale of the operation to manage and distribute this volume of materials is unprecedented, particularly within such timescales, and was made possible by the hard work and diligence of staff working across a number of areas.”

National guidelines were recently published setting out the specific protective equipment requirements in each clinical environment. NHS Fife is operating in accordance with these guidelines to ensure that neither staff nor patients are exposed to potential harm at any stage. The availability of PPE across the UK continues to be a source of some concern from healthcare workers and their loved ones.

Helen Buchanan, director of nursing, added: “We understand the anxiety of staff and their families.

“However, we are clear that we continue to have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment.

“Stock levels are monitored daily by our lead nurses and senior charge nurses and there is a clear line of escalation when additional supplies are required.

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/fife-stagecoach-depot-makes-lots-noise-carers-and-keyworkers-2535446

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/transport/fife-parking-charges-suspended-2534004

“The establishment of our new PPE distribution hub strengthens our position still further, and assists us to process our deliveries of PPE quickly and get it out to all areas that need it.”

DNHS Fife has continued to receive regular supplies through national procurement arrangements. These have been further supplemented by a number of local businesses, who have donated approved FFP3 masks and other items to support the board’s response to covid-19 in Fife.

Mrs Buchanan added: “The generosity of local people, and indeed local businesses, has been overwhelming.

“Our single biggest priority is to protect our patients and the healthcare staff who care for them. Such donations have supported us in making our services even safer in challenging circumstances, and we want to thank our local community for the ongoing support – it is very much appreciated.”

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspapers; the Fife Free Press, Fife Herald, St Andrews Citizen, East Fife Mail and Glenrothes Gazette.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty.

The support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with your community during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes - from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this, and your continued support of our newspapers across Fife will help to protect their viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004

Thank you

Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press