Find out how your business can provide PPE to the NHS and other businesses.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic worldwide increase in demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Globally, demand is outstripping supply; many UK organisations are experiencing supply challenges. Could your business help to solve the PPE challenge?
Read this factsheet to understand:
- The government and NHS response
- The specific regulations and certifications
- Changes that have been made to help with the problem
- How your business can support the NHS (ideal for companies able to provide large amounts of PPE)
- How your business can support key workers and other organisations (ideal for small to medium sized suppliers and manufacturers).
How you can help
Support the NHS and social care sectors
Because of the high demand for PPE equipment in the NHS and care sectors, as well as the incredible response from the business community to offer help – the government is focusing on those firms able to provide large quantities of PPE equipment. If you’re a smaller supplier or manufacturer, skip to section 2 to find out how you can help.
If you think you can help, follow these three steps:
- Understand the technical and regulatory standards
The manufacture of PPE is governed by product safety legislation. These regulations have been changed to assist the accelerated delivery of PPE.
Read the official technical specifications
- Understand the health and safety requirements
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has produced new guidance for businesses changing their processes to make high volumes of PPE to protect users from COVID-19.
Read the guidance for business
- Tell the cabinet office how you can help
The government have created an online form to make it simple for businesses to highlight where they can help.
Support key workers and other organisations
There are huge numbers of frontline organisations working to keep the UK fed and the economy moving that are facing severe PPE shortages. From care homes to bakers, these shortages threaten their ability to operate, with demand only set to increase as restrictions ease. So how can you help?
Work with other businesses to meet long-term demand
The CBI is working to bring together businesses that can help, from those sourcing products or raw materials to those that supporting manufacturing. We have put together working groups to bring together suppliers and manufacturers around key areas of need:
- Materials (gowns, body bags)
- Masks
- Eye protection
- Gloves.
As an immediate response to the outbreak, the CBI successfully brought together business to work together and help address the national PPE challenges. We are continuing to monitor the situation as it develops.
Help meet short-term supply issues
Free to join and free to use, the PPE Exchange is a matching service that enables organisations to request and offer PPE to meet urgent supply issues.
The NHS and government response
Government
- Paul Deighton, London 2012 Chief Executive, was appointed to lead the national effort to produce essential PPE for frontline health and social care staff on 19 April. In an unpaid position, he will work across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and other government departments. His role will be to coordinate the ‘make’ programme: the end-to-end process of design through to manufacture, including streamlining the approvals and procurement process to ensure new domestic PPE supplies are rapidly approved and get to where they are needed
- The Cabinet Office and Department for Health and Social care are working with Deloitte to increase the availability of PPE to the NHS and social care.
NHS
To meet the urgent volume requirements, the NHS set up a PPE Dedicated Supply Channel. The list of core PPE products now handled by this channel includes eye protection, face masks, respirators and surgical gowns.
Community heathcare partners
- All providers including primary, adult social care, dentists, pharmacies, third sector, adult care homes and hospices are being asked to continue to order PPE from their wholesalers
- The Department of Health and Social Care is working to provide stock to wholesalers and distributors so that providers like pharmacies, GPs and dentists can order PPE through their usual supply chains
- Local Resilience Forums are being supplied with PPE products to support GPs and social care providers according to local need.
Regulations, certifications and rule changes
The legislative framework
The manufacture of PPE is governed by product safety legislation. The framework for PPE regulation stems from EU Regulation 2016/425. This has been implemented in the UK by the Personal Protective Equipment (Enforcement) Regulations 2018. Conformity assessment requirements have changed to assist the accelerated delivery of PPE (see below).
Conformity assessment
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has produced new guidance if you want to change your processes to make high volumes of PPE:
- Where you only intend to sell/donate PPE to the NHS via UK government: the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the market surveillance authority and must approve products which can then by supplied without having a CE mark
- Where you intend to sell PPE to distributors, retailers or directly: no CE mark is needed but manufacturers have to have started the process of approval with an accredited laboratory. Labs are prioritizing COVID-19 approvals.
Contact details for UK Notified Bodies which can assess COVID-19 PPE can be found within government guidance.
Importing and exporting PPE
- A tax relief has been made available for eligible UK-based organisations to pay no import duty and VAT on protective equipment and relevant medical devices brought into the UK from non-EU countries during the coronavirus outbreak
- Organisations will temporarily need a licence to export PPE outside the EU, EFTA member states and certain other territories.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the PPE challenge so pronounced?
Before the crisis, China was the largest producer of PPE finished products, as well as of many of the raw materials needed to manufacture these products. According to Unicef, China produced an estimated 50% of surgical masks globally (estimated to be 20 million masks a day, pre-pandemic), while Taiwan alone makes up 20 percent of the global supply of face masks. With China the first to enter lock-down as PPE demand soared, the supply chain was massively disrupted.
As virus restrictions in China have lifted, the country has directed its manufacturing might toward making the PPE that health care workers need to battle the coronavirus. However, the market to procure those supplies is now very competitive. Alongside issues with traditional PPE procurement, it is challenging for companies to re-purpose as a PPE provider. There is a raft of regulations, certifications and standards that are highly technical. It’s even harder to re-purpose and produce PPE at scale.
Further information and resources
For those struggling to access PPE:
- CBI resource - accessing and providing PPE: If your business is struggling to access supplies or would like to help provide critical PPE supplies – head over to our dedicated page
- The National Supply Disruption Response line: NHS bodies and community healthcare partners can send an email or call on 0800 915 9964 if they need urgent supplies of PPE.
For further information on technical specifications for PPE:
- The Cabinet Office and the Department for Health and Social Care has published official technical specifications for many of the PPE categories
- The Office for Product Safety and Standards has produced new guidance for businesses changing their processes to make high volumes of PPE to protect users from COVID-19
- Standards relevant to PPE for COVID-19 are available free from the British Standards Institution and there are also WHO guidelines on COVID-19.
General resources:
- Understand NHS procurement’s approach to PPE
- UNICEF’s COVID-19 impact assessment and outlook on personal protective equipment
- For a more detailed analysis on this topic, read the Asian Development Bank’s report on global PPE shortages.
