Innovative Northumberland PPE factory to expand, creating 60 jobs

In April, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust opened a factory to produce protective gowns and other equipment for health and care staff as they battled the pandemic.

By September, the Cramlington facility had already provided more than two million protective gowns to front-line staff across the region’s NHS.

Now, the trust, which runs hospitals and community services in Northumberland and North Tyneside, has expanded into a new factory space of almost 40,000 sq m at Plant Based Valley in Seaton Delaval.

The latest move will create 60 jobs and provide the opportunity for up to 10 apprenticeships. Encouraging youngsters to explore a career in manufacturing, the hub will offer positions in sewing, cutting, warehouse and business administration and machine mechanics.

Northumbria Healthcare’s chief executive, Sir James Mackey, said: “This is a monumental step for the trust and for the region.

“From the outset, we have worked collaboratively and we will continue to work closely with partners to make sure that as many organisations as possible are given the opportunity to benefit from this innovative venture.

“Our overall production ambition is to produce as much high-quality PPE locally, securing the supply chain, demonstrating that our patients and staff are always at the core of all we do.

“We are also very pleased to be able to create employment and learning opportunities for local people in our local communities. This is especially important in the current climate as we try to help the local economy get back on its feet.

“Now more than ever, health and social care providers need to be self-sufficient in procuring equipment – we are offering a solution that allows them to become non-reliant on international suppliers.”

The factory will be producing isolation gowns, scrubs, theatre hoods, masks, theatre hats and pillows.

Paul Dunn, the trust’s director of finance, added: “We are working as part of the national effort, with localities up and down the country coming together to open manufacturing hubs to equip their health and social-care services.

“We are sharing our expertise and learning with others to help them open hubs too.”

Ingenuity and innovation

Northumbria Healthcare’s efforts with this project were highlighted as one of eight case studies in a report by NHS Providers this month – Providers deliver: Resilient and resourceful through Covid-19.

Its introduction said: ‘At a time when the NHS has had to refocus its efforts and resources in response to the pandemic, trusts have led the way in innovating so that they can continue to meet people’s needs while meeting the demands placed on them by the virus, and do so safely and effectively.’

In the section on Northumbria Healthcare, it explains that stocks dropped to around 30 gowns at the peak of the first wave when the trust was using around 500 gowns a day, before Sarah Rose, a consultant on manufacturing PPE, offered to help.

Within three weeks, the group had opened a factory and begun training staff to make the gowns.

While sustainability of supplies is key, Mr Dunn explained that ‘part of this initiative going forward is just greater control over quality standards’.

“If you said that we can’t use [the gowns] any longer, there’d have been an uproar, because they perceive them to be a far greater quality than what we’ve historically been receiving.”

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