Kitronik and a Nottingham maker group are providing PPE Face Shields to pharmacy staff.

The group is producing 500 PPE face shields per day, and – aiming at the onliner maker community – designs will be made freely available on the internet so other companies, schools and individuals can get involved.

The shields are going to pharmacies, which apparently have been overlooked are supplying PPE themselves.

The initiative has been undertaken in response to an appeal from Dr Hussain Ghandi of the Wellspring Surgery in St Annes, Nottingham. Dr Ghandi called for tech firms and makers with laser cutting facilities and 3D printers to use their skills and switch their production lines or use hobby skills to create the much-needed face shields.

Dominic Morrow, the Co-Founder and Trustee of Nottingham Hackspace invited Kitronik to become involved in the project. The team created a face shield design that is cost effective, fast and straightforward to manufacture – the shields cost under 50p each to manufacture and will be supplied by Kitronik on a not for profit basis.

electronic company has already shifted its production to concentrate on the supply of face shields.

“Myself and fellow director Geoff Hampson love a challenge,” said Kitronik director Kevin Spurr (pictured), “and in liaison with Dominic were pleased to design the face shield which is available to download from our website so that the maker community can get involved. We were able to quickly gear up for production at our Nottingham factory and can produce 500 masks per day, whilst also supplying the raw materials for schools and colleges across the UK to make their own.”

Joe Cattee, Director of PCT Healthcare, contacted Kitronik having heard about the company making the designs for the face shields available on the internet and undertaking production.

Following discussion with Kevin Spurr, Kitronik is to supply the company with 2,000 face shields immediately, with 500 being donated to the pharmacy group free of charge.

“Along with many pharmacy groups, we are in desperate need of PPE,” said Cattee. “Our staff are coming into contact with hundreds of people each day and potentially being exposed to coronavirus and we have a duty of care to protect them as much as possible. The speed at which Kitronik has made the masks available is fantastic and we are now quickly deploying them to our staff.”

Kitronik is a Nottingham-based electronics and educational technology company that supplies its products to design and technology teachers across the world. Nottingham Hackspace is a group for makers, creatives and schools across the UK.