Sewing superheroes called into action by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sewing superheroes are being called to get their needles at the ready for Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
An appeal has been launched by the trust for scrubs to help supplement existing supplies at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Rosie maternity to make sure they do not run out of resources.
Dr Liam Brennan, deputy medical director, said: “We, like many other hospitals up and down the country, have reached a point where we are calling on volunteers to help us bolster our supply of scrubs.
“We think it is prudent to take advantage of the generous offers of help received, and we are grateful to the ‘For the Love of Scrubs’ community who have created very specific instructions on what is required, so all that is made can be fully utilised.
“We would like to thank volunteers in advance for their help. We have been amazed by the outpouring of public support since the start of this crisis and cannot over emphasise how much this means to our staff.”
Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie have been registered with ‘For the Love of Scrubs’, which is a national organisation of people who have come together to help provide frontline staff with the scrubs.
Patterns, materials and washing specifications have been drawn up by the organisation for volunteers to follow.
The guidelines include needing 3.5m of material per set of scrubs (with a good lay-out it could be 3m), fabric needs to be a minimum 115gsm but 130gsm is better and 240gsm is too heavy, and people are asked to avoid 100 per cent cotton with either 65/35, 80/20, 50/50
polyester/cotton appropriate.
The plainer the material the better as patterned material is harder to inspect for stains or damage, and labels are required to be stitched into the waistband with the size and stating ‘CUH’.
The specifications for the scrubs are available at cuh.nhs.uk/scrub-donations.
Anyone who has made a donation of scrubs can deliver them to the Frank Lee Centre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital from 7am to 10pm from Monday to Friday, and 8am to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, please email support@act4addenbrookes.org.uk.
Meanwhile, Emmaus Cambridge are offering their help to make scrubs.
The homeless charity has already supplied material for the East Anglia's Children's Hospices in Milton and NHS after being regularly contacted by organisations and community groups who are helping with the creation of scrubs.
They have left a van at the entrance to their site in Landbeach for people to drop off bed sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases when on essential journeys.
Emmaus has requested people make sure all donations are left in a clean, secure bag and include only the mentioned items.
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