Calder Valley MP calls on Yorkshire colleagues to use local connections to source protective gear

Calder Valley Conservative MP Craig Whittaker said he was hearing from local health and care leaders about the specific pieces of PPE they were running low on, while other items were in good stock.

Some of the most sought after items were currently gowns, he said, where there was a global shortage.

And he suggested that while Government was working hard to get supplies to the front line, MPs could also use their local contacts to put manufacturers in touch with health bosses directly to supply smaller quantities than Government would be seeking.

“There are 52 MPs in Yorkshire and the Humber, I’m quite happy to co-ordinate it myself,” Mr Whittaker, who had asked for details on costs, quantities, and specifications so he could pass those on and make sure the quality was up to the right standard.

“We have a resource here, locally we have factories that are producing PPE for other countries, it just seems madness to me, everyone is working 24/7 and the rest trying to do this stuff and relying on national - of course national Government are working their backsides off too.”

He said not only would the initiative help frontline workers get access to the kit they need but also allow local manufacturers to have an income.

“We MPs know a lot of factories and manufacturers, and we can have these conversations.

“Some of those on the frontline, they are going from hand to mouth with this stuff.”

It comes after Network Medical Products, in Ripon, North Yorkshire, said it will begin exporting face visors to Europe from the end of this week if there are no orders from the Government.

The company began PPE production on April 9 and has supplied 165,000 visors to Ramsay Healthcare UK – a network of private hospitals, said it is capable of distributing 100,000 a week to the NHS.

Neil Mercer, chief executive of Network Medical Products, said: “We have made the decision to export our PPE from the end of this week, there’s a huge global demand for our items, mostly from within Europe but also some countries in South America.

“We want it to be sold and used here, the materials were sourced in the UK, but our offers have been met with generic responses from officials, no orders have been placed, so we will have to ship them abroad.”

Other Yorkshire firms which had offered to supply PPE include CQM Learning, based in Sheffield, which could supply 8,000 face shields per day, Leeds firm HPE Consultancy Ltd which could offer masks, gowns, scrubs, hand gel, and ventilators. Bones and Rozes Historical Clothing in Sheffield also offered 100 - 175 gowns a week.

Downing Street said that more than 23.6m items of PPE were delivered to 198 NHS trusts on Tuesday.

The deliveries included 54,000 gowns, 1.5 million eye protectors, 257,000 FFP3 respirator masks, 1.5m surgical masks, 2.8m aprons and 16.6m gloves.

The RAF could make further flights to collect PPE from overseas, Number 10 indicated.

“If there was more PPE to be collected and delivered from anywhere in the world, then if the RAF could help then they will do so,” a spokesman said.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said yesterday: “Since the start of the outbreak, we’ve delivered one billion items of personal protective equipment and tens of millions have been distributed via the devolved administrations.”

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said trusts are currently getting through around 80,000 gowns a day, but had previously got through up to 150,000 when at full tilt.

One NHS trust told the BBC it was using 72,000 pieces of PPE a day.