A plea has gone out to Felixstowe businesses to hand over any spare personal protective equipment they are not using at the moment.

The appeal has been launched by Suffolk County Council for any unused PPE to ensure its critical front-line staff working in care homes, children's homes and people's own homes can continue to give care and support our most vulnerable residents.

The council specifically needs:

Fluid repellent face masks

Nitrile non powdered disposable gloves

Disposable aprons

Disposable eye protection/splash goggles

Sanitiser gel

For the past two weeks, county council staff have been working alongside procurement experts to secure PPE stock for SCC and other public sector partners in Suffolk.

This has been through direct contact with suppliers across the UK and globally.

The council is also working closely with the adult and children's care market to understand their PPE needs so all providers can be supported. Guidance on the use of PPE has also been issued to staff working in frontline roles.

Large quantities of the PPE listed above are being sourced and a team of PPE volunteers is packing and sending 4,000 PPE kits which will be issued to our critical front line teams this week, however more is still needed.

Due to the current business operating restrictions the county council is reaching out to businesses to see if they have any of the above items in storage or stock.

There are many small businesses that may use these products on a day to day basis, such as restaurants, gyms, beauty salons, nail bars, car body shops, cleaning companies, tattoo artists, to mention a few.

Donations of any PPE would significantly support the high levels of demand at this time across the care system and will help to support Suffolk's most vulnerable children and adults.

The County Council is willing to purchase stocks if donating PPE is something businesses could not support and would be happy to discuss this with them.

Suffolk County Council's leader, Cllr Matthew Hicks, said: "We fully understand the efforts the Government is making to ensure PPE is available for all who need it, but we equally recognise the challenge they face in reaching beyond the NHS into other parts of the care system.

"During this unprecedented time we need to ensure that we have enough PPE to help our dedicated teams of social workers, care workers and other front line staff who are working with the most vulnerable people in Suffolk.

"We would be extremely grateful to any businesses who could provide us with these items which will help us to stop the spread of Covid-19 in our county."

If businesses think they could help they are asked to contact [email protected] with; their current PPE stock information (type and quantity), where they are located in Suffolk and a contact number.

If the county council needs this PPE stock, logistics for safe collection/delivery will be confirmed in line with current social distancing guidelines.