Hand sanitiser delivery from Keele University

Staff and patients at UHNM are set to benefit from a new supply of hand sanitiser delivered today. Keele University has reopened two of its teaching labs so that they can manufacture the product on-site. The collaboration comes amidst a national shortage of the product due to the Coronavirus outbreak and will see hand sanitiser distributed throughout Royal Stoke and County Hospital. UHNM received more than 30 bottles today and is set to receive hundreds more in May.

Dr Keira Watts, Academic Research and Innovation Manager, said: “It’s fantastic that Keele have agreed to do this for us. It’s not part of their day job, it’s a brand new provision just for us. It’s great that we can all work together at these difficult times and we know that this will make life easier and safer for everyone.”

Michelle Rhodes, Chief Nurse, said: “We really value our working relationship with Keele University and this will help to keep our staff and patients as safe as they possibly can be. It’s fantastic that we can organise such a provision locally and that we have such skilled and talented colleagues who are able to help us.”

UHNM has received more than 30 bottles of sanitiser so far and will be receiving more in the coming weeks.

Dr Szu Shen Wong, Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Science at Keele University, said: "We are delighted and honoured to be able to help our local hospital in a very practical way. We are ideally placed to do this as we have expertise from pharmacy academics within the School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering and excellent technical support from staff at our Central Science Laboratory. It's also a wonderful opportunity to further develop our working relationship with UHNM."