Staffordshire digger-maker JCB has answered a call from the University Hospitals of North Midlands for donations of vital supplies of personal protective equipment during the current coronavirus crisis.
The manufacturer has gifted more than 8,000 pairs of gloves and a large quantity of face masks to the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent as it gears up for an influx of patients in the coming weeks.
They were donated by the JCB World Parts Centre at Uttoxeter, which continues to provide service, technical and spare parts back-up to customers including farmers maintaining the food supply chain, contractors providing JCB generators to NHS hospitals and hirers keeping crucial utility services intact.
JCB parts and service managing director Ian Sayers said: "We are delighted to support our fantastic NHS and the Royal Stoke Hospital by donating much needed gloves and masks. They are doing an amazing job and we are pleased to be able to help."
JCB donated the equipment after a former employee who now works at the Royal Stoke University Hospital got in touch.
Paul Bytheway, chief operating officer at UHNM, said: "We have been delighted at the response from local businesses across Staffordshire who are really pulling together in this crisis and grateful to JCB for their generous donation."
