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Prime on the frontline as it launches PPE campaign for NHS workers

Prime on the frontline as it launches PPE campaign for NHS workers

A Nottinghamshire printing specialist is leading the charge to provide much-needed PPE equipment to the NHS in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

Prime Group, based in Blidworth, employs nearly 50 staff and specialises in bespoke, personalised print. However, last week they made a swift decision to manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) visors after realising the scale of the impending supply problem in the NHS.

Jon Tolley is the managing director of Prime Group and is close to the crisis as his wife is a critical care practitioner at an NHS intensive care unit.

He said: "My wife had a shift last week and rang me in the afternoon, deeply concerned as they were running desperately low on PPE, for treating suspected or positive Covid-19 patients.

"She asked me if we could do anything as we use similar materials and the team and I very swiftly worked out that our skills for creating new products quickly, could potentially translate well here. We collected a cleaned up visor and then effectively reverse engineered it to see if we could help.

"We then produced a few prototypes by 6am the following morning, they were tested by the clinicians on the unit, approved and we went into production. It meant we were able to deliver 100 to them in less than 24hrs.

"The staff on my wife’s unit are hugely grateful as they worked perfectly but not as grateful as we all are for the work they are doing, we are just happy that we can do our bit to help protect them. Now, we’re perfecting the process so that we can scale up and deliver this solution as swiftly as we possibly can.

"We had to act fast and due to the speed of our turnaround they are not yet formally MDA approved, simply trialled and tested by clinicians with great success and feedback and they are making a huge difference to everyone on the front line of this crisis."

Currently, Prime can make thousands of visors a day but will be ramping that up to 10,000 with a funding campaign on GoFundMe This has a target of £20,000 to help with the logistics, stock purchasing and trialling of the visors in NHS units across the UK. The campaign is just under half way to target. They want to do more though. It’s Their goal to get as many visors into frontline NHS staff for free as possible and you can help.

Bradley Legrand, of Carter Legrand Wealth Strategies, set up the campaign. He said: "I’ve worked with Jon and the Prime Group team for many years and when I heard about how they were pivoting their offering so swiftly I was hugely impressed.

"They are an incredibly innovative company and they have a great supply chain behind them and processes that ensure these visors can be made at scale and safely, they simply need that financial boost now to make this vision a reality. I know from talking to Jon just how much they have spent already to support this, securing raw materials when demand is so high globally.

"I appreciate that everyone is taking stock of their own situations right now but I would ask anyone who feels inspired and able to donate something, even if it is just £10, to do so. It can make a huge difference to the frontline staff and those they are caring for and it will back a business that is doing its best to be part of the solution in these incredibly challenging times."

 

COVID-19 Business Support Hub

These are challenging times for business and although our ethos is to only shout about good news, we've created COVID-19 Business Support Hub on the Love Business the website to support you with expert tips, advice and ideas from your fellow businesses to help you get through this COVID-19 crisis. 
 

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