Announcements

eBay extends partnership with NHS and DHSC to significantly scale up supply of free PPE to health and social care organisations

Press Release

  • The bespoke NHS PPE portal, built at speed in early lockdown and powered by eBay technology, is scaling up to meet extra need for PPE resulting from the pandemic
  • Up to 200m PPE items could be delivered each week to a range of over 50,000 healthcare organisations, as part of Government’s new ‘PPE Strategy’
  • Order limits updated and increased to enable eligible health and social care providers in England to order PPE for free until end-March 2021

29 September 2020 – eBay has today announced it is extending its partnership with the NHS Supply Chain, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and its distribution partners to expand its supply of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) until the end of March 2021.

The NHS portal, first launched in April 2020 as a limited ‘emergency top-up’, will be significantly scaled to meet the extra need for PPE through the challenging winter months, and in the face of rising COVID-19 cases.

Orders on the PPE portal were previously restricted to focus on providing emergency items to the providers that needed it most. Order limits have now been updated and increased so that eligible health and social care providers across England can order PPE through the portal, free of charge, until at least March 2021.  

At full service, up to 200 million items of PPE could be delivered every week to primary and social care providers* across England. The PPE portal is part of the Government’s newly-announced ‘PPE Strategy’ and intended to be used for COVID-19 health and care provision only.

The portal is built on eBay’s marketplace technology, allowing an NHS database of healthcare workers to log in and ‘order’ for a limited range of non-acute PPE via the NHS Catalogue. The PPE items are being supplied by NHS Supply Chain via the Clipper Group and despatched via Royal Mail. eBay continues to provide this service to DHSC and the NHS free of charge.

Murray Lambell, UK General Manager, eBay said: “We’ve been working with the Government and our partners on the PPE Portal since the early stages of lockdown, and as we face a second wave in the UK, we’re proud to play a small part in helping to get PPE in to the right places as part of the new national strategy.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

* Residential care homes and domiciliary care providers, children’s care homes and secure homes, children’s residential special schools, GPs, community pharmacies, dentists, orthodontists and optometrists in England.

More information is available here:

Topic: Announcements