THE West Cumbrian community has come together to raise thousands of pounds to keep its frontline healthcare staff safe.

An appeal launched jointly by Sellafield members of Unite, GMB and Prospect has raised more than £14,000 to buy PPE for staff working at the West Cumberland Hospital and for district nurses.

Half of the money was raised in just eight hours and now the unions are hoping to soon reach the £20,000 target needed to deliver more masks, gowns and other PPE to protect health workers from the coronavirus.

Unite’s Nick Jeffery said: “I’m proud to see everyone coming together, it’s not just members of the unions who have donated, it’s the whole community. It’s wonderful to see people getting behind it.”

The unions initially contacted Sellafield to see if any spare PPE supplies could be redirected to frontline NHS staff at the Whitehaven hospital.

Nick said: “They responded really positively and made a large donation.

“However that went through a central point, which directs where the PPE goes and the West Cumberland didn’t get any, as there was more need in Carlisle and Kendal at that point. That caused a bit of concern, so we decided as branches to put some money together, but it became apparent that there would be very little availability to buy anything.”

It was at that point that Sellafield stepped-in and put the unions in contact with Mark Telford, managing director of Flimby-based Forth Engineering, which has an office in China.

Forth were able to find the supplies needed and arrange for them to be sent to West Cumbria.

Mark said: “I’m really pleased and amazed at the amount of money raised in such a short time.

“As a company we’re always looking at ways we can help and this has been a good way of getting involved.”

The company is already making ventilators and CPAP machines.

Already, 3,000 gowns, 2,000 masks and thousands of shoe covers have been delivered to the West Cumberland, district nurses, hospice nurses and care home workers.

And Lee Butterworth, of Xtreme Fitness at Lillyhall, managed to source some hand sanitiser, which has also been delivered to frontline staff.

Nick said: “These people do such a good job and they’re so committed.

“We’re doing all we can to applaud them and show them how much we appreciate them.”

To donate visit: www.gofundme.com/f/ppe-for-wchand-copeland-district-nursing-teams