In a recent update to members the TSA report that their lobbying activities have seen some momentum and the interest in the industry has really increased over the past few weeks.

There has been much wider media exposure with topics being shared on a range of platforms. The change in tactic to sharing more personalised stories from industry businesses also seems to be working – the most recent one from Ahmed Hassan at Lincoln Laundry was picked up by ITV.

In addition the industry has been mentioned by the Caterer within their article ‘Suppliers grudgingly accept roadmap amid calls for continued support’, where the importance for the government to protect the supply chain is highlighted further.

In the March member update, David Stevens, CEO at TSA also added: “Guy Turvill from Swiss Laundry was able to attend a IFB (Institute for Family Business) roundtable meeting with the Prime Minister but we are not allowed to report the outputs, but he was able to again present our industry concerns and felt it had a good hearing.

“We were even able to get an interview on BBC Belfast Radio. A big thank you to Phil Gosh from Biko for driving this, it would not have happened without him and hopefully David Griffith at Lilliput will get some follow up publicity.”  Please click here to listen to the clip.

Kate Nicholls, CEO from UK Hospitality will also be holding a webinar with TSA members – this is a great opportunity to get some key messages to the sector she represents whilst also engaging UK Hospitality in the TSA’s key lobbying messages.

One of the biggest impacts of recent industry media coverage has come from the press release from the joint TSA and De Montfort University (DMU) Covid research into the effects of laundering healthcare uniforms at home. It proved that “whilst washing the textiles does not present a real issue, the survival of Covid on the textile does, and this presents real challenges for the OPL and home washing environments.”

As a result of their findings, the research team led by Dr Katie Laird, head of the infectious disease research group at DMU advised the government that all healthcare uniforms should be laundered in hospitals to commercial standards or by an industrial laundry. Watch Dr Laird’s interview with the BBC here.

This story was picked up by many mainstream media outlets including BBC, Evening Standard, ITV, Mail Online, MSN and Metro. To read the article in full, please click here.