A WOOLSTON-based firm will be flying in more than 65 million pieces of PPE in the fight against coronavirus.
Crest Medical Ltd is providing vital PPE for frontline workers, including medical gloves, gowns, suits, eye protection and theatre caps.
More than 40 million pieces have already been distributed to the NHS, with millions more to arrive on 40 further flights.
Crest Medical is a long-term supplier of PPE and medical devices, and would normally bring in PPE by sea freight, which takes about 12 weeks to arrive from China.
Due to the urgent and significant increase in demand, Crest partnered with aviation services company European Aviation to privately charter cargo planes and specifically-adapted passenger planes to ensure the PPE supply was maintained during the crisis.
Regular flights have been landing at Bournemouth Airport, reducing the time it takes to get supplies to the UK from 12 weeks to about four days.
Alastair Maxwell, MD of Crest Medical, said: “Covid-19 is a global and national emergency and with our expertise in providing medical equipment and PPE to the NHS, we couldn’t sit by and do nothing when we could see PPE supplies were running critically low.
“With a robust supply chain, we were able to act quickly and adapt how we brought PPE into the country to maintain and then increase the delivery of this vital equipment to the NHS frontline.
“We are immensely proud to use our expertise and our long-term relationships with manufacturers and suppliers to ensure our incredible frontline workers get the medical-grade PPE as they battle every day to save lives.
“Because of the increased demand for the medical-grade PPE, there is still going to be a huge need for a robust supply for many months, if not years, to come.
“We have already brought in more than 40 million extra units of PPE to the NHS and are committed to continuing to bolster that much-needed supply for the foreseeable future.”
Paul Stoddart, chairman of European Aviation, said: “I’m very proud of our association with Crest Medical.
“We’ve forged a great working partnership between the two companies to help meet the PPE needs of the NHS.
“We converted the aircraft from passengers to freight and together we’ve delivered more than 40 million pieces of PPE.
“They’re a lovely bunch of people to work with.”
Crest Medical will continue to work in partnership with the NHS and the Government in its efforts to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.
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