Sadaf Farooqi, Toni Vidal Puig and Angela Single write:
Our aim is to ensure that high-grade Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available for health and social care professionals, caring for patients with COVID-19 in Cambridge and the East of England. We want to guarantee the safety and protection of our staff on the frontline, so they can focus entirely on what they do best - caring for patients.
Why is this Appeal important?
This is the most important health crisis in a generation. We are shortly about to reach the peak of the epidemic in the UK; the number of patients infected with COVID-19 will remain high for at least three to four months. In the UK, the NHS is committed to providing adequate PPE for its staff. However, doctors and nurses on the frontline across the country have repeatedly raised concerns about the availability of PPE. Without adequate PPE, health care professionals, exposed to a high viral load as part of their work, many become unwell; in the last three weeks more than 30 have tragically died.
To address the expected shortage over the next two months, we need to urgently purchase high quality PPE now.
What are we doing about the lack of PPE?
This appeal to raise funds for PPE acquisition is led by two medical doctors and University of Cambridge academics, Toni Vidal Puig and Sadaf Farooqi and their colleague Angela Single, a trained nurse, with experience in NHS management (currently Director of Sales for a health informatics company).
We have several initiatives running in parallel aiming to increase PPE manufacturing capabilities in the UK. We are working with UK academics and companies in Materials Science and Engineering to develop new high-grade respirator masks at low cost. This technological research and product development is vital to improve the number of available personal protection solutions, which will play an important role in the present and in future outbreaks.
To address IMMEDIATE needs in the UK, we are working with academic counterparts in Nanjing, China to purchase and quickly bring in high quality PPE approved for use in the NHS. The only country in the world manufacturing PPE at scale is China. This established academic collaboration gives us a unique advantage as we can check quality and ensure the reliability of the supply chain. Chinese entrepreneurs with strong links to Cambridge and local companies are providing air-freight and logistics support at cost.
In the context of this global crisis, there is tremendous worldwide competition with demand far outstripping supply. Without liquidity, we cannot secure purchases. Given that the lives of our colleagues and the patients they care for are at risk, we, the 4CPPE team, are entirely focused on finding solutions to the lack of PPE in the UK.
We are urgently seeking your support - our first target is £5 Million.
You can make a donation through the University’s Philanthropic donations website
or if you prefer you can use our Just Giving Page here
What can your money do?
£150 buys the FFP3 respirator masks needed to care for 1 Intensive Care patient for 1 day.
£1,000 buys 100 pairs of scrubs for staff to wear when working with patients with COVID-19.
We urgently need to purchase surgical gowns and re-usable goggles as these items are heavily used and their stocks are already very low in the UK as has been recognised by the Head of NHS Providers.
We need you to disseminate this appeal. Please forward this information to anyone who may be in a position to help.
On behalf of our colleagues in the NHS and their families, we thank you for your support and generosity in these difficult times.
Sadaf Farooqi, Toni Vidal Puig, Angela Single
Antonio Vidal-Puig MD PhD FRCP, FMedSci, EMBA
Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism, University of Cambridge
Associate Director MRC Metabolic Disease Unit
Honorary Consultant in Metabolic Medicine
Associate Faculty Sanger Institute
Sadaf Farooqi MBChB, PhD, FRCP, FMedSci
Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow
Professor of Metabolism and Medicine, University of Cambridge
Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology
Angela Single EMBA, BA Health Care Management
Director of New Business Development at BridgeHead Software
Advisor, PatientSource Information Technology & Services Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Chair of Romsey Mill, Non-profit Organization Management, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Trained Nurse