UK software company Shoothill has launched a free platform to supply, sell and exchange personal protection equipment (PPE) throughout the coronavirus pandemic. 

The website www.ppeexchange.co.uk provides a free-to-use service that connects independent, voluntary and public sector buyers including care homes and other organisations with suppliers of PPE during the COVID-19 outbreak. Within 24 hours of the launch there were already 700,000 requests registered on the site.

Shoothill Managing Director Rod Plummer said the portal, which the firm designed and implemented in just six days, aimed to provide urgent protection for keyworkers who are being put at risk through a lack of available PPE.

He said: “Across the country, supplies of PPE are in short supply and, at times, non-existent. We have heard of care homes, where our many vulnerable friends and family are housed, and home care agencies working in the community having to resort to improvised masks and aprons fashioned from bin bags. 

“Mobilising PPE to get to the frontlines is essential to ensure the safest possible working conditions and, critically, to slow the wave of infection and save lives. Time is of the essence now and for the foreseeable future, with shortages and bottlenecks putting more and more people at risk, every effort is needed to tackle shortages.”

Simon Jeavons, Chief Operating Officer at Shoothill, commented: “The greater the user base, the more positive an impact this system can have, given the connections created between users coupled with the power of the data gathered.

PPE Exchange also collects data through user analytics to assess which products are in the highest demand and where the greatest shortages are. This information can then be used for a national coordinated response to prioritise the country’s most urgent needs.