Kingfisher donates £300k of PPE to healthcare workers

Since the COVID-19 crisis hit Europe, Kingfisher and its businesses in Europe have ringfenced all their remaining stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) so it can be donated to frontline healthcare workers.

Five trucks containing protective eyewear and masks, worth more than £200,000, are set to leave Kingfisher’s Trentham distribution centre near Stoke to go to the NHS’s Emergency logistics hub in the Midlands today (3 April 2020).

Kingfisher has ordered a further 3 million face masks from suppliers in China and Israel, which  it expects to arrive towards the end of April. These will be for donation to the health authorities in the UK, France, Poland and Romania, or to equip its colleagues facilitating online and click & collect orders in stores.

Kate Anderson at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, which recently received a donation of P3 masks and goggles, said: “Our staff are delighted to receive the masks and goggles, which will really help to ensure they’re well protected in the coming days and weeks.”

Kingfisher and its retail banners B&Q and Screwfix in the UK, Castorama and Brico Dépôt in France, Poland, Spain and Romania, have made additional donations, committing more than £1 million so far.

In the UK, B&Q and Screwfix have donated more than £300,000 of PPE to the NHS, with more to follow. A spokesman says: “We are working closely with the NHS to donate these supplies to the hospitals and key workers where they are most needed and have already donated masks, goggles and visors to many large hospitals across London. Our B&Q stores have also been donating a range of other items, from paint to plants, where urgently needed by community organisations including hospices and care homes.”