The Sewing Bees -making NHS Scrubs for Local Hospitals during the COVID-19
Here we are in early May 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, shortly after the Brexit debacle that went on for the last 3 years. I won’t ponder on this as my article is not meant to be political, but recent history and austerity have undoubtedly played a role! Make of that what you will.
Recently I was responding to a Facebook request for old bedsheets and polyester cotton material for making NHS scrubs. Within 24 hours of this, I found myself sewing these scrubs myself, as part of a larger army of amateur dressmakers and seamstresses.
My little group of friends includes Sue, Sandy, Beatrice and Maxine and we are proudly called the Sewing Bees!
How did all of this come about?
Apparently, our government has been planning for a pandemic for 10 years. However, they thought it would be influenza and not such a debilitating pneumonia (if this is indeed the correct way to describe COVID-19).
More importantly, during the last few years, our supplies of NHS Scrubs and PPE have been coming in from China as we no longer manufacture them within the UK. Since China became the first country to have the pandemic, the supply of scrubs to the world stopped, creating a UK national shortage of both scrubs and PPE (Personal Protection Equipment). And when my friends asked me if I was actually sewing these scrubs, rather than just supplying material, it got me thinking that I should be making these! Thirty years ago, I was an accomplished dressmaker (albeit amateur). So, I dusted down my trusty Singer sewing machine that was a gift for my 16th birthday; it was quite an advanced machine for those times 41 years ago! By the way, I am 57 if you haven’t worked that bit out yet.
I posted an offer of help to make these on my Facebook page and within 24 hours I was sat at the said sewing machine, starting my first set. I admit the first one took me 7.5 hours to make but now they take around 3.5 hours, as I started to get familiar again with both sewing and the pieces (pre-cut by another army of volunteers). So far, I have made 12 sets of scrubs and have taken them back to the lovely lady who is coordinating this voluntary project.
Karen Newport is running this mammoth task “Northwest Surrey for the Love of Scrubs” Facebook page, from her home in Staines with her family. As a tribute to her, I sat down to write this blog so that she gets the recognition for all her efforts in our local history book. What is remarkable is that she started this project with her own money, £7100 so far, and as yet has received no funding from Surrey County Council. Karen started a funding page and has nearly made her investment money back. Any further donations will enable her to buy more material, which has a limited supply source as other hospitals around the UK are also doing the same.
Together this home sewing army of 550 ladies is supplying 1000 scrubs to St Peters and Ashford Hospitals, Surrey and Middlesex, all coordinated by Karen who also works from home in her day job as a school Teaching Assistant. Interestingly, she also runs a smallholding behind her home in Staines, which is no mean feat. Karen’s day starts at 5 am to attend to her animals and to prepare material for the cutters to collect by 9 am and for the sewers to collect from 10 am onwards. I suspect her day finishes very late. Yet she does all this as we all do, for the love of our NHS and the carers, who are risking their lives every day to save ours from this dreadful virus.
That’s all for now folks… as we await more material, Karen has been approached by other hospitals to sew scrubs for them too. The scale is frightening and I hope that other hospitals get support from amazing ladies like the Sewing Bees.
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