Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

PPE Portal

Eligible health and social care providers can order Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) through the National PPE portal to meet the increased need that has arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can only log in and place an order if you’ve received an email invitation to register. You should not use the portal to order PPE for non-COVID-19 requirements. You should get this through your normal channels.

Providers can order a limited amount of PPE on a weekly basis. The current order limits for different types and sizes of eligible health and social care providers are detailed in the PPE portal guidance. For further information see the PPE Portal Guidance.

Call the customer service team on 0800 876 6802 if you have any questions about using the PPE portal. The team is available from 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week, to help resolve your queries.

Additional PPE

If you require additional PPE, this should be sourced through your usual supply chain route. If your regular suppliers are unable to provide stock, you should contact alternative suppliers including the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel recommended suppliers.

Emergency PPE

If you have been unable to obtain the required PPE through the PPE Portal and your usual supplier and have tried other suppliers including the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel recommended suppliers, then the County Council may be able to support with a limited emergency supply.

Emergency supplies of PPE are only available if:

• you have been unable to source stocks from your own or other suppliers
• you have been unable to obtain stock from the PPE portal
• your PPE stocks are at a critical level; and
• you need emergency supplies of PPE

If you meet the criteria, enquire as follows:

• If you require a response during normal office hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm),  email contracts@westsussex.gov.uk
• For an emergency outside of normal office hours, please contact the Out of Hours Team by phone on 0330 222 7007

Please note: Deliveries of PPE will only be available on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Requests for PPE will be arranged for the next available delivery day. Requests received on Tuesdays and Thursdays must be received by 2pm to enable these to be processed for delivery the next day, otherwise they will be postponed to the next available delivery.

You will be contacted and asked to provide some information, including:

• your stock levels
• date of your next delivery; and
• how many people you are supporting including any confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19

If the County Council is unable to support with emergency supplies, then contact the National Supplies Disruption Service (NSDR) on 0800 915 9964.

PPE should be sourced through your usual supply chain route. If your regular suppliers are unable to provide stock,  contact the PPE Dedicated Supply Channel recommended suppliers, as follows.

If you are unable to obtain the required PPE from the recommended suppliers or any other supplier and you need emergency supplies,  the County Council may be able to support with a limited emergency supply of stock from the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).

• For any requests during working hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) please contact Independent Lives to make a request for emergency PPE. They can be contacted by phone on 01903 219 482 or  email at feedback@independentlives.org 
• For emergency requests during evenings, weekends and bank holidays, please contact the County Council’s Out of Hours Team by phone on 0330 222 7007.

You should regularly check the government’s online information to ensure that you are following the most up to date advice and guidance on PPE.

Public Health England (PHE) guidance

You must ensure that you use the recommended PPE for working in different settings when working with confirmed or suspected cases and contexts and PHE’s guidance on working safely, as follows.

• Personal protective equipment (PPE): resource for care workers working in care homes during sustained COVID-19 transmission in England
• Personal Protective equipment (PPE): resource for care workers delivering homecare (domiciliary care) during sustained COVID-19 transmission in the UK

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) illustrated guide for community and social care settings: This quick and easy visual guide from Public Health England outlines personal protective equipment (PPE) advice for health and social care workers working in the community. It helps to identify which PPE to wear in different scenarios.

Putting on, wearing and taking off PPE

You must ensure that guidance on the correct procedure for putting on (donning) and taking off (doffing) PPE is followed at all times. For more information see Guidance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for non-aerosol generating procedures (APGs)

A short training video covering the basic skills in donning and doffing PPE is available on the County Council’s Learning and Development Gateway. The video is accessible via a free sign-up to the Gateway.

Wearing masks – a quick visual guide to the do’s and don’ts of wearing masks. This will resource will support staff to understand how to wear masks safely and correctly to ensure that they are used effectively.

Important Notice:

We appreciate and recognise the hard work that providers have taken to facilitate and promote infection control within services. However, the risk of transmission and further outbreaks of COVID-19 in West Sussex remains and so it is vitally important that services continue to follow and adhere to current PPE guidance for the safety of all staff, residents and visitors.

Under the Health and Safety Executive, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure they provide and train staff to wear the appropriate PPE at work. Please see the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.

As you may be aware, some people are exempt from wearing face coverings in public places such as shops etc. These exemptions do not apply to wearing PPE as a social care worker.

If an employee is unable to wear a fluid repellent surgical mask or FFP3 respirator (for Aerosol Generating Procedures) or any other type of PPE as per guidelines, this must be included in their risk assessment. Consideration must be given to their current working duties and any reasonable adjustments made (as required) to accommodate a safe working environment. If this cannot be achieved, then the individual may need to be redeployed away from environments requiring respiratory PPE use. 

Visors / face shields are not a suitable alternative to wearing face masks because they are for a different purpose. Face masks are for respiratory protection, whereas visors / face shields are for eye and face surface protection from droplets but do not prevent inhalation of airborne particles.

Please ensure that you are following the most recent government guidance on the use of PPE during COVID-19, which can be found on the Public Health England Coronavirus (COVID-19): Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) hub. If you feel that you are unable to fully follow or implement any guidance in relation to COVID-19 then contact us at contracts@westsussex.gov.uk for advice

Disposal of PPE

PHE's COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidance includes information about the disposal of PPE.

The government has issued guidance for the disposal of PPE when supporting people in their own homes with COVID-19.

PPE purchased by care homes, businesses, charities and individuals to protect against COVID-19 is zero rated for VAT from 1st May to 31st October 2020.