A YORK hospice is "very grateful" to the local community for rallying together to help the charity and donating vital items of personal protective equipment (PPE) following an appeal on social media.

St Leonard's Hospice, on Tadcaster Road, is in a "better position" with regards to the amount of PPE it currently has, and has thanked the community for its support.

The hospice says its PPE stocks include aprons, wipes, visors, respirator masks, gloves, goggles, full length gowns and surgical masks.

"We have good stock of some items and less so with others such as aprons and respirator masks, though there is a known national shortage of these items," a spokesperson for the hospice explained.

It comes after the hospice used social media earlier this month to issue an appeal for help acquiring vital items of PPE, specifically protective visors and surgeon's masks, when it was facing a shortage of equipment.

The spokesperson added: "The team is monitoring the situation daily and putting in orders - we're getting stock from the NHS supply chain, York Hospital and the council but they can obviously only send what is available at the time."

They said it's difficult to say how long stocks of each item will last as it completely depends on whether orders arrive, and how many items are sent, and also how many patients it has, and the types of illness they have which dictates the PPE to be used.

Director of clinical services at St Leonard's, Jenny Brandom, commented: "The health, safety and well-being of our patients and staff is of course our top priority and a crucial part of this is providing the appropriate PPE for our staff.

"At the moment we have what we need, however we know there is a national shortage of some items of PPE meaning some items are more difficult to get hold of.

"We are very grateful to organisations and individuals in the community for rallying together to support us and other healthcare providers.

"We have received help from businesses, schools, universities and individual volunteers and, on behalf of everyone at St Leonard's, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to them all."