Milestone moment

Our brilliant work supporting the UK’s Covid-19 fight has seen us help the Government reach a significant milestone for deliveries of vital protective equipment, writes Paul Smith.

The Department of Health and Social Care has thanked Royal Mail as part of an announcement that one billion items have been delivered through its PPE Portal.

The PPE Portal forms part of the national effort to ensure critical PPE continues to be delivered to those on the frontline. In mid-July, the portal had shipped over 18.5 million items to 21,000 healthcare providers. In September, capacity increased to process and deliver up to 200 PPE items per week. By the beginning of November, the portal had shipped 325 million items of PPE to 40,000 providers. One month later, the total number had reached 500 million, before breaching the 1 billion mark in early 2021.

Nottingham postman Simon Holmes, pictured, was one of the first to deliver protective equipment to a care home last May, which we featured on this RMtv.

Since then, the amount of deliveries he has been making has grown considerably.

‘I was on the van round in Cotgrave recently and half the vehicle was filled with eight huge boxes full of masks, gloves and other items to deliver to a local care home,’ he said.

‘Okay, we’re not on the actual frontline like the NHS, but we’re still out there every day, working as normal, delivering for our communities.

‘It’s great to feel that we’re doing our bit to help deliver vital protective equipment to care homes and NHS locations.’

Chief commercial officer, Nick Landon, said: ‘This is a fantastic achievement. Royal Mail has been a major part of reaching the milestone of one billion items shipped from the PPE Portal since the start of the pandemic, on behalf of the Government.

‘These deliveries have played a vital role in helping to keep health workers safe during the pandemic.’

Read more from Simon in the latest issue of Courier, flick to page 31.