Ways the Local Community are Coming Together to Support the NHS

Like so many communities across the Bath and Bristol area, schools are finding different ways to support local NHS staff and other frontline workers in healthcare services during the current pandemic.

In Bath, King Edward’s School is using its Design Technology department facilities and materials to produce protective visors for teams working in local surgeries, hospitals and care homes. The lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is one of the biggest concerns of staff working in the health service right now.

Led by Mrs Mina Roy, Head of DT at King Edward’s, 500 visors have been made to date and have been distributed to NHS facilities including: Bristol Royal Infirmary, Southmead Hospital and surgeries across Bath, as well as Box, Batheaston, Warminster and more rural areas. Visors have also gone out as far as Swindon, to A&E facilities there.

Dr Jones, a GP at The Avenue Surgery in Warminster, whose surgery has received visors made by the team at KES said: “We are hugely grateful for the support from KES. These masks will enable us to care for over 37,000 patients in the local area.”

Daisy Baish, a Speech and Language Therapist at Southmead Hospital said: ''Our new PPE visors from the wonderful Mrs Roy at KES are keeping us safe during the pandemic. Thank you so much!”

Mina Roy from King Edward’s School said: “We just wanted to do all we could to help local NHS staff as it became clear that additional PPE equipment, made by volunteers would be hugely appreciated by local health workers in Bath and Bristol and their surrounding towns. An amazing team of teachers have been in school making the visors, and we hope to continue our work so as to help even more NHS communities.”  

In addition to keeping the School open for children of key workers, King Edward’s has also donated googles and protective glasses to local surgeries in Bath. Further initiatives to support healthcare workers are also currently in progress.