SCORES of crisis-hit care homes in Sussex still lack basic personal protective equipment (PPE) and are relying on charity handouts.

This is according to a volunteer service now distributing masks, gloves, hand gel and protective kit to more than 60 homes across the county.

It comes despite repeated assurances from the Government that the shortage of PPE in care homes is being addressed.

Jason Roberts runs the Brighton PPE Mutual Aid Group. Every day, he delivers hundreds of items of protective kit to care homes, hospitals, emergency service workers and key workers – from his car boot.

The shipments are funded by charitable donations.

Jason said 62 care homes now depend on his deliveries in Sussex.

So far, he has delivered more than 27,500 items of PPE in Brighton and Worthing, from gloves and aprons to sanitiser sprays.

He said that requests for PPE at council-run care homes have gone down, but there has been a surge in demand at private homes.

The Argus:

“Many of these private care homes have money, but they’re still struggling to get hold of PPE – that’s when you know there’s a real problem,” he said.

“The PPE shortage is not going to go away in the next six weeks. It’s an ongoing issue and it could last for months.”

Jason believes the Government needs to ramp up production of PPE within the UK. He said this would help avoid the “astronomical” costs of imported kit, delays, and sub-standard products entering the market.

In England and Wales, the coronavirus death rate for care workers is twice that of health workers.

Jason said: “When I deliver PPE, I see how grateful the care home workers are. They’re dealing with things we only see on the news. On my rounds I’ve seen ambulances outside homes taking people to hospital.

"The council is doing a fantastic job, but the issue goes beyond that – it’s down to the Government.”

The Argus:

In the commons on Monday, Boris Johnson acknowledged there is “a vast amount more to be done” to tackle the crisis in care homes.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the Government had now delivered 68 million items of PPE to social care and a further 50 million items to “local resilience forums”.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government is “now working with over 1,000 businesses and establishing a British manufacturing base” to deliver “tens of millions of extra items of PPE” to the front line.

You can donate to Jason’s fundraiser at gf.me/u/x2ggfk. There is a shortage of protective gloves at the moment.

He has also helped set up a PPE delivery hotline at 0800 2404559.