Oldham PPE team effort helping to support vulnerable people

GMFRS staff helping move vital PPE kit

Oldham’s massive team effort has played a significant role in ensuring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stocks have reached front line workers across the Borough.

Staff, partners and the community have all played a role in ensuring a steady flow of key PPE kit has been readily available to help key workers, such as community health, adult social care and care home teams, protect Oldham’s vulnerable people.

While Oldham, like every other Council across GM and the UK, has faced a challenge to get enough PPE during the Covid 19 crisis, the famed Oldham team effort has played a key role in tackling this challenge head on.

A special PPE hub has been set up at Oldham Civic Centre to help coordinate and distribute the PPE kit. Staff have left their usual roles to help at this difficult time.

Staff like Anna and Christine, who usually work in Oldham libraries, who have been supporting the Hub from the start, and have done a brilliant job in getting orders together, delivering stock to settings and keeping the system going.

And colleagues like Paul and Nigel who manage the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Civic Centre and have been brilliant in terms of unloading deliveries and driving the pallet truck to move larger items around.

Partners have also played their part. For example, firefighters from the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) have helped with every PPE pick up from Bury by loading vans, sorting out orders and making sure Oldham has a ready supply stock.

Local schools, colleges and businesses have also helped. Just one example is a phone call to Saddleworth High School for help with eye protection within 20 minutes the Head of Science had delivered boxes of brand new googles to the NHS at Horton House in Oldham.

Councillor Zahid Chauhan, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: “I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to helping supply PPE in Oldham. Oldham is in a good position currently to support our vulnerable people and we would urge them to carry on helping where they can.

“I would also like to praise those wonderful staff in all the settings helping our most vulnerable at this difficult time.”

Clare Bamforth, usually a contracts monitoring officer for Oldham Cares, but who has swapped roles to play a major role at the Hub, said: “Many people have played a role in ensuring PPE stocks have arrived and then been distributed to where they are most needed in Oldham.”

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