Oxford Health has received over 2,000 items of PPE, including coveralls, gloves and goggles, from Magnox Limited. Magnox is a company owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and manages 12 nuclear sites in the UK, including the Harwell site Oxfordshire.

The company said: “Magnox is committed to playing its part to support the country in the response to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s why we have been donating as much personal protective equipment from Harwell Site (pictured above) as possible to those on the front line. To date the site has donated more than 15,000 items.”

Priorities of what’s needed have been established by the network of local resilience forums across the UK. The PPE donated includes disposable respirators, suits and gloves and comes from both Magnox and their contractors and suppliers. The delivery to Oxford Health included nearly 1,500 coveralls of different sizes and 700 pairs of gloves.

Magnox facilities management provider, Interserve, helped with the delivery of the supplies to the distribution centre in Oxford.

All the PPE from Magnox can be spared without impacting on nuclear safety or emergency preparedness. It would ordinarily be used to support the delivery of work and projects on the Magnox sites, but much of this work has been temporarily paused while the country focuses on responding to the pandemic.

Gwen Parry-Jones, Magnox Chief Executive Officer, said: “A key part of our response to COVID-19 is to help other organisations deal with the pandemic wherever we can. Clearly the need for PPE across the UK is urgent. Our sites have done a fantastic job to identify PPE in Magnox stores that could safely be shared to support front line response work.

“The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has given us their full support to pass this stock to local resilience forums in the communities in which we operate, while we retain enough to deal with any emergency that might arise at our sites.”

Oxford Health’s director of finance Mike McEnaney said: “The availability of PPE has been of the utmost importance in protecting our staff while they carry out their essential jobs. Having the right equipment available gives the teams the confidence to do their jobs knowing that they are protected.

“With the national shortages in equipment the very generous offer of Magnox to provide coveralls and gloves was a much needed and gratefully received donation and has genuinely assisted in keeping our services operating safely.”