The EM3 region has been rallying around to support the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Western Railway has donated spare PPE to the emergency services, NHS and care providers on the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus.
The donation, which consisted of disposable and splash-resistant coveralls normally used by SWR engineering teams for painting and fluid change, followed a request by the local resilience forum, which represents the emergency services and NHS in Hampshire.
BAE Systems, based in Farnham, has also been helping to provide PPE, with all of their industrial-scale 3D printers now producing face shields and working with their suppliers to collate more, with the equipment being delivered every day directly to frontline medical staff around the UK.
Business workspace Incuhive are producing 3D printed face visors for direct delivery to Winchester Intensive Care Unit.
The University of Surrey has been providing equipment and training to frontline NHS staff, including two anaesthetic machines and six of its teaching hospital beds as well as a range of protective equipment to the Royal Surrey County Hospital.
Final year nursing and midwifery students at Surrey have volunteered to opt in and assist under the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s emergency policy while the University’s final year paramedic students have been signing up to work support shifts with the South East Coast Ambulance Trust, helping to manage the high volume of calls that require additional crews.
A team from the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences have also started to produce protective visors. The visors, which were manufactured using in-house 3D printers, have been working “incredibly well” according to health officials from Royal Surrey County Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and up to 400 are now being delivered each week.
And after discovering that Royal Surrey County Hospital’s onsite pharmacy was running low on crucial medical forms, Appleseed, the University of Surrey’s printing outlet, has been helping with printing and delivering the much-needed forms.
Surrey Research Park tenant, MedPharm, has been using its pharmaceutical expertise, facilities and collaborations with local businesses to help relieve the current shortage of sanitiser. Its site in Guildford is formulating and manufacturing batches on-site to deliver to local hospices and care homes.
MedPharm’s President and CEO, Eugene Ciolfi thanked its many local suppliers who had quickly responded to requests for materials so that MedPharm could move quickly to production through provision. He said:
In Guildford, we quickly recognised that we had facilities for manufacturing this product on a modest scale,
It is clear that key small local institutions desperately need the product now and we are proud to be able to support our local communities in any way we can at this time.
The Bombay Sapphire Distillery is also providing more than one million litres of hand sanitiser to communities across the world.
The distiller, based in Laverstoke Mill, is one of eight Bacardi-owned manufacturing sites that will be contributing to the cause as the company diverts processes to supply the much-needed alcohol essential for the increased production of hand sanitisers.
Smaller businesses have also been demonstrating their support with Vedia Osman who runs As Above Soap Below at Viables Craft Centre, in Basingstoke making a donation of 200 bars of soap to NHS staff at Basingstoke Hospital as a way to say thank you.
Vedia said:
I made around 300 soaps and I spoke to the hospital to see if they wanted them and they did. They took around 200 and I have spoken to them again and they said they would keep taking them so I will keep making them.
From 1 April 2024, the responsibility for LEP functions across the Enterprise M3 LEP region has transferred to Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council.
The Enterprise M3 Board met for the last time in March 2024 and Enterprise M3 LEP is no longer operating as an organisation.
For any enquiries relating to economic development across the counties of Hampshire and Surrey, please visit the Hampshire County Council website and Business Surrey respectively.
Please note that Enterprise M3 LEP staff have transferred to Hampshire County Council to continue to deliver services and activities in Hampshire, including the Growth Hub, the Careers Hub, work on key business sectors, and trade and investment.
They can be contacted at economic.development@hants.gov.uk.
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