Kingsley protects care home staff and residents with 12 month stockpile of PPE
Kingsley Healthcare has secured a 12 month stockpile of PPE (personal protective equipment) for the protection of its care home staff and residents. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the group has spent more than £400,000 on masks, face shields and other protective equipment, ensuring that its homes across the UK have a constant supply. Kingsley CEO Daya Thayan said: “There has been widespread reporting about the availability of PPE in care homes. Kingsley is proud that as an established top 20 large care home group we have made sure of availability to all our care homes from the outset of the pandemic.
“We regard this as an essential part of our duty to protect staff and residents, not a discretionary spend.” Purchasing director Zubair Dadabhoy, who is based at the company’s Suffolk head office, said: “From the outset of the pandemic we were determined that our staff would always have sufficient PPE and not run out as in some reported cases. “We have made full use of local companies, including Loddon based Panel Graphic which supplied us with face shields, as well as London based firms such as Ultimate and Hayat Holdings which sourced stock from around the world.” He said their latest order of 250,000 face masks had given them the assurance of a 12 month PPE stockpile in their stores at regional offices and care homes. As well as masks and face shields, supplies cover everything from safety goggles and thermometers to gloves and aprons. Kingsley’s group HR director Sarah Ferguson said the company had been equally proactive in supporting staff in other ways.
Every one of Kingsley’s 1,800-strong workforce had been risk assessed and 29 were off under the government’s shielding programme until the end of June; meanwhile, 13 staff with caring responsibilities had been furloughed. Enhanced rates of pay had been agreed for staff in the nine Kingsley homes affected by Covid 19 – four of them are now free of the virus - and monthly pay dates had been advanced for all employees as a further support measure. The company was proud to have launched the Kingsley Foundation, assigning a large amount to it to support staff wellbeing. Ms Ferguson said they had made sure all Kingsley staff could be tested for Covid 19 at the earliest possible date. She said: “We are really proud of the way our colleagues in the homes have consistently gone the extra mile to care for our residents and support each other at this difficult time.” Mr Thayan added: “We are all in this together, totally committed to the welfare of our colleagues and residents but still focused on continuing our growth which will see a further 350 staff join us in the coming year.”
To help care home residents cope during the coronavirus lockdown, Kingsley has also invested £25,000 in additional iPads, iPhones and Facebook Portals to enable them to video call relatives and friends whenever they want.
