A consignment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been delivered to the Kent Commercial Services (KCS) warehouse in Aylesford to be distributed to care home staff and county council social care staff.
Fourteen out of an expected 17 pallets arrived yesterday (April 7) with gloves, masks, aprons and goggles. These are being distributed between Kent County Council staff, partners and providers based on urgency and type of need.
The delivery had been promised several times over the weekend and KCS kept the warehouse open all night on Sunday in readiness.
A further delivery is due tomorrow.
During a teleconference with people including KCC leader Roger Gough, Minister for Local Government Simon Clarke and Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care Jo Churchill it was revealed that a new system for electronic ordering and a scaled up supply chain with more resilience is promised over the coming days.
The system is currently being used by acute trusts and will be rolled out to local government for social care and other needs.
A Kent County Council spokesperson said:“Kent County Council is working as part of a co-ordinated effort with its partners in the NHS, national government and locally in Kent to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in order to protect our staff and service users during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Their safety is our priority and that has been the motivation for our efforts to source PPE through local channels and our strong representations to national government.
“Supplies of PPE across the UK are limited and Kent County Council has been exploring all possible opportunities to source PPE through partners and employees.
“Over the weekend the government has confirmed that an allocation has been made available to Kent and equipment will be distributed to those who need it most immediately.
“Orders have been placed for further supplies. We continue to follow government and PHE guidelines on the use of PPE and balance the need to keep services to vulnerable people in place without exposing anyone to unnecessary risk.”
Government ministers have also confirmed that work is taking place to cover current financial needs and cashflow difficulties at local level.
Government data
As of 9am on 8 April, 282,074 tests have concluded across the UK, with 14,682 tests carried out on 7 April. Some individuals are tested more than once for clinical reasons.
232,708 people have been tested, of whom 60,773 tested positive. Today’s figure for test data does not include Charing Cross and Southampton due to a data processing delay. The tests concluded figure excludes data from Northern Ireland. There are 1265 positive cases recorded for kent and Medway.
As of 5pm on 7 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 7,097 have died. 938 of those deaths were recorded over the last 24 hours.
As of 9am 8 April, 282,074 tests have concluded, with 14,682 tests on 7 April.
232,708 people have been tested of which 60,733 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 7 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 7,097 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/bWOBsyrrrs
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 8, 2020
In East Kent Hospitals -QEQM Margate, William Harvey at Ashforrd and Kent and Canterbury – there have been 37 deaths recorded, 10 more than yesterday’s figure.
