Protecting Heroes Face Shields for Front Line NHS

Who we Are

We are a Community Interest Company (CIC) called Protecting Heroes that was born out of a need to rapidly support the effort in the UK to fight the COVID-19 virus. We are non-profit and aim to supply at cost with a small operating margin.

We are experts in the field of rapid upscaling of industrial manufacture.  We are agile fast moving and inventive.  We have created a product that doesn’t strain any of the current health industry suppliers. So we add to the capacity of the available PPE. We are doing this through the British manufacturing SME community .

Why we are doing this

We need to provide all front-line NHS staff – and people looking after the sick in care homes and others - with a regular supply of fully tested and approved face shields – as the most fundamental requirement.

You've heard and read of many individuals, schools and even companies putting their own resources  to use making a small quantity of masks or shields, which they  supply ad-hoc to their local hospitals. This is a fantastic effort but unfortunately, it’s not the answer.

The key words here are manufactured, safe, tested and regular supply. And the only way to do this was to create our own prototype that is fully compliant with the most stringent of standards and guidance.  Our shield has been designed and made according to best practices.  We have trialled them with specialists and consultants who have used them in full shifts in hospitals and critical care units.  They say they are better than they had before the crisis. They are crying out for them, but to unlock the procurement orders from the NHS and MOD, we need to proceed with tooling and confirm a scheduled delivery date.

How we are doing it

Initially we contacted several medical supply specialists, testing and compliance specialists and dug down into the rules and regulations for Protective Face Shields.

We then looked at how we could meet the most stringent of the requirements whilst simplifying the design and production process so that we could rapidly reach large scale industrial manufacture in the UK.   

We then got in touch with several industrial manufacturers, mostly in the food packaging industry, and together worked up a plan of action to reach our goal of protecting our front-line staff from a stable UK manufacturing base that could be scaled up to supply large volume quickly.

We are working with senior figures in the NHS, Ministry of Defence procurement, DFID, testing houses and Parliament.

Our shield already has CE approval, it works and we can make it.  We are so very nearly there!

The response and encouragement from the NHS frontline has been fantastic and our first prototypes have already been pushed through. The people using them say they're the best they've tried and procurement say we are the most professional team out there.

We have also been promised central government funding to manufacture our first orders but – and it's a big but – we need to make an initial small batch run and to do that we need to make the moulds and other equipment.

The Ask

To move forward we need to raise £9K and have set up a CIC (not for profit company) called Protecting Heroes to raise funds and get the face shield into full production of thousands of units a day.

If you can donate just £50 that will get us over the line. 

Which is why I need your help – ideally NOW there's no time to loose!

As a CIC our assets are locked into the NHS and so any left over money goes to the NHS directly.  Whatever way his goes your money can only go towards helping the NHS.

At this beginning of this note I said I would offer you the chance to make a difference and to save lives. Here it is.

Well here’s your chance. Make a donation ASAP

Please, tell as many people as possible about the project you have become part of.

Let’s make this happen.

Thank you On behalf of Ben May, Dean Carran, Patrick Rayner and all the brilliant, talented, selfless people on our fantastic team!

Si Freedman

[email protected]

[email protected]

07526 204 164