WEST Somerset College had already stepped up to the plate before the Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum issued urgent appeals for personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep health workers and care staff safe.

The Minehead school’s science department donated over 200 sets of safety goggles to Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, at the instigation of department head Sarah Home at the weekend.

Then appeals were made by the county council as part of the Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum, which wants:

Water repellent surgical face masks

Non-latex gloves

Disposable plastic aprons

Eye protection

Hand sanitizer (minimum 60 per cent alcohol content)

It is also continuing in its efforts to recruit more staff and encourage former care sector employees to come out of retirement.

Council chief executive Pat Flaherty said: “PPE is vital to help protect our front-line workers, allowing them to continue delivering critical services in the community, whilst also limiting the spread of this disease.

“We are aware that national supply chains are under significant pressure and that every effort is being made to fix the problem; however, we are very concerned that some of our critical services do not have the supplies they need.

“As we continue to escalate this urgent issue to the Government through all available channels, we are attempting to source our own supplies locally so that we can continue to deliver critical services.

“As a short-term measure, we are asking local businesses for any support that they can provide with supplies of PPE. If any are able to help, we would urge them to get in touch.”

Anyone able to supply any of the items on the PPE list is asked to email [email protected].