With the pandemic in full force at Laundry & Cleaning Today we looked at ways to help.

With no sewing ability between us, we decided the best solution would be to provide NHS quality fabric to a local charity that had set up to make scrubs, bags and face masks.

Scrub Hubs was set up following a request for help from a GP in a Facebook appeal and quickly demand increased.

With nothing covering their area at the time, Tina Hancock, along with friend Madeleine, set up a hub to cover Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Within days they were up and running, and the first scrub order dispatched the following weekend.

A Facebook group was set up asking for volunteers with sewing experience and the right equipment to ensure that the scrubs were made to a professional standard and to a set pattern.

They now have around 200 volunteers and 486 Facebook members making scrubs, scrub bags and face masks. 18 sub-groups have also been created to make the logistics a little easier.

Laundry & Cleaning Today donated NHS quality fabric to Tina Hancock who runs the local Scrub Hubs charity group

Each group has a leader who delivers materials and collects the finished work. This is returned to HQ for quality checking and dispatching. A logistics manager organises the dispatch and a group of drivers deliver across the broad area of South Oxon and Berkshire. In excess of 200 scrubs have been made to date and they are still receiving orders. Hancock comments, “we are delighted with the support from Laundry & Cleaning Today and are busy turning the fabric into scrubs for the NHS, carers and key workers. Thank you. “In addition to the amazing support from our volunteers we have been well supported by local businesses including yourselves.”

When Jacqui Hurst from Vision Support Services was furloughed she looked for volunteering work and came across a local charity called Syston Charity Crafting (SCC), via a bigger UK charity called For The Love Of Scrubs. SCC was a small local charity with just 30 members. Now, there’s a team of over 700 people manufacturing scrubs and other PPE in their homes all across Leicestershire to donate to the three hospitals in the Leicester NHS trust and other care facilities.

Jacqui Hurst has been volunteering with a local charity who are manufacturing scrubs and other PPE in homes all across Leicestershire

Whilst Hurst can’t sew, she found a role helping out with the sourcing of fabric donations and making deliveries and collections, including to a factory in Leicester who are kindly helping out the workload of cutting scrubs for the charity at no charge.

Tonrose Ltd have also been helping out with the supply of scrubs and have been sourcing and providing scrub suits for use in healthcare laundries and NHS contracts.

Tonrose has supplied over 30,000 scrub suits for use in healthcare laundries and the NHS

To date, they have supplied over 30,000 scrub suits from their partner mills, who they have long standing relationships with so they can ensure high quality products at a time when they are needed the most.

Tonrose said: “We have sourced these meticulously to the healthcare providers standards and have worked tirelessly to ensure that these have been received as soon as possible. To ensure the smooth departure of the scrub suits we personally contacted the senior trade manager working for the department of international trade of Pakistan, who assisted greatly and ensured that they arrived at our warehouse with minimum disruption.

Richard Haworth has also been supplying linen and PPE for frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Richard Haworth managing director Raj Ruia said “We have supplied hundreds of thousands of bed and bath linen to a variety of hospitals, including the Nightingale’s, all over the UK.”

The firm also received numerous enquiries about producing PPE, and teamed with a drop in demand within the hospitality industry, it turned its hand to producing medical garments instead.

“Our manufacturing facility in Manchester typically makes bed and table linen but once it became clear that there was a PPE shortage around the country, we looked at how we could help. Using the fabrics available to us, our team quickly came up with designs suitable to produce scrub suits and isolations gowns knowing that time was limited and could be used by those that need the equipment as soon as possible. People have been very collaborative too. We are extremely grateful to industry colleagues and even competitors who helped us with garment templates so we could hit the ground running.”

“We are now able to produce many thousands of PPE equipment a week and are also developing PPE to be used in other industries in the post lockdown UK.”

Richard Haworth has been supplying PPE to frontline workers