Morley’s Chelsea Centre Produces PPE Gowns for the NHS

The Fashion team at Morley’s Chelsea Centre have traded Schiaperelli for scrubs and Prada for PPE, as they work hard alongside volunteers from the college and local community to produce protective equipment for the local hospital.

Volunteers from the community have been busy during lockdown, turning operating theatre drapes into surgical gowns for frontline staff fighting Covid-19 at the Royal Brompton Hospital. The team has increased daily production from their original aim of 500 gowns per day to 700, and have produced over 6000 so far. 

The gowns are for the Royal Brompton Hospital where the team leader, from our partner the Fashion School, Caroline Gration’s daughter Betty heads the Covid-19 ward. Thousands of UK helpers have made scrubs, protective clothing and fabric headbands to protect medics from masks chafing their skin.

Volunteers without machine or sewing skills help cut, pack and transport boxes of the gowns. Strict social distancing regulations are enforced at all stages of the process to ensure the safety of the volunteers and wider community. News of this amazing volunteering effort made it into the Daily Telegraph and BBC London News, among other media.

This valuable work is continuing at the Hortensia Road centre until further notice. While there is currently no more capacity for new volunteers, anyone wanting to put their name forward to help can contact Tom at t.bennett@rbht.nhs.uk.

The Fashion team at Morley’s Chelsea Centre have been turning operating theatre drapes into surgical gowns for frontline staff fighting Covid-19 alongside volunteers from the college and local community.

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