Battling healthcare workers are to get lorry loads of vital protective gear from a medical gloves maker in Peterborough

Lorry loads of specialist nitrile, latex and vinyl examination gloves are on their way from the premises of Supermax Healthcare, in Titan Drive, Fengate, for use by doctors and nurses in their desperate battle to care for victims of coronavirus.

The entire stock of 88.5 million medical gloves held at the Supermax factory has been bought by the Government for use by NHS healthcare workers.

Some 43 heavy good vehicles have been drafted in to transport the gloves with the first leaving in the early hours today.

The mammoth delivery comes as concern grows across the country that many NHS staff do not have enough of the right equipment to protect them from infection as they care for their patients.

Iain Crawford, group managing director of the £26 million turnover business, said: "A week ago we were approached by NHS Supply Chain, on behalf of the Government’s Department of Health & Social Care requesting all of our stock currently being held in our UK warehouses of Nitrile, Latex & Vinyl examination gloves.

"After much discussion our entire company agreed it was without question the right and proper thing to do.

"Our National Health Service is about to be tested to its absolute limits and far beyond, and anything we as a company can do to help we all feel that we must do. So we agreed to the request.

"Every glove we currently have in the UK - 88.5 million - is currently being processed and the first of 43 truckloads will be leaving us tomorrow.

Director Kelly Crawford added: "Supermax has been a proud supplier to the NHS for many years and when the request came from them it was something that we knew we had to give serious consideration to.

"The impact this decision has on the remainder of our customer base is not something we have under-estimated, we know this decision will have a huge impact on our business but also on all of theirs as well - we promise them that we will help them all in the future as the country starts the re-building process after CoVid-19 passes.

"I am extremely proud of the fact that every single employee of the company has unequivocally backed the directors decision to do this and thus far the large majority of our customers have done likewise which when you consider what it means for them and their business is also extremely heartening and makes me all the more determined to ensure we support them once this time has passed.

"However for now our main and to be honest only focus should be on doing all that we can to support those who need it most and that is those people in our country who are leaving their families and putting themselves at risk every single day to protect all of us and this is quite simply the best way that we as a company can do that."

Supermax Healthcare, which employs about 25 people in Peterborough, is looking to expand its operations in Peterborough with the construction of a distribution hub on a seven acre site at Kingston Park.

The company, which has been in Peterborough for six years, distributes its disposable examination gloves across Europe and the Middle East. The gloves are manufactured at its factories in Malaysia.