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Full Support Group


Northamptonshire’s PPE heroes


Wellingborough-based and privately-owned Full Support Group is one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of personal and respiratory protective equipment to the healthcare market and has a growing presence in the industrial sector. We spoke to CEO Sarah Stoute about current demands, challenges and future plans to help businesses manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah Stoute, CEO of Full Support, is grateful to have had more than five hours’ sleep on a rare evening when she has been able to tear herself away from her laptop. Over the past ten weeks she has sourced over £2.3billion of PPE, largely achieved without confirmed purchase orders because she understands that the NHS and others cannot receive these vital supplies quickly enough. “I’m proud of my team, of what they have achieved and the risks


we’ve had to take as a business,” she explains. “We’re doing what we have to because otherwise the NHS wouldn’t get the levels of stock they need. Nobody gets anything done by procrastinating. Yes, I’m tired and we’re all working under extreme pressure, but it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last.” Before any of us had even heard of COVID-19, Full Support had


been developing an enviable record, growing over the past 20 years into an independent, family-run firm competing with multi-billion-pound global corporations while staying true to its vision of ‘bringing quality products to customers at reasonable prices.’ Today, in a world few could have imagined, the impacts of corona- virus have come with both professional and personal pressures for the


Sarah Stoute CEO of


Full Support Group


business. Sarah continues: “Our product volumes have increased massively from bringing eight sea freight containers into the UK every month, to 800. Most of our PPE is normally shipped by sea, although air freight has become increasingly im- portant because of the urgency and demand for our products. “More recently, this has been further compli-


cated by China’s refusal to certify manufacturing quality. Tey are now marking dispatches ‘not for medical use’ to avoid being held accountable over existing CE standards. As a result we’ve had to change all of our packaging, on occasion up to six times a month, just to keep pace with these contin- ually evolving details. “At a global level there has been a big reduction


in charter flights, as well as a 36% downturn in ship- ping availability. Tis has resulted in a competitive surge to find good freight-forwarding companies, one of which we have. “In China, each airport has its own rules and


regulations. For example, at Shanghai you can only pre-register stock 72 hours ahead of a flight. Meanwhile, in the UK we’ve had airlines impacted by bank holidays, furloughed staff and additional checks on goods coming into the country. “All of this presents challenges getting our bulk deliveries out to distribution centres, such as Clipper Logistics in Daventry, or our clients like NHS Scotland – but we’re continuing to meet tar- gets and get the job done.” Despite all of this activity there is no room for


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ALL THINGS BUSINESS


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