Northwood takes off with Midlands Air Ambulance

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has chosen the North Shore premium proprietary system of washroom dispensers and consumables from Northwood Hygiene Products Ltd for its brand new airbase and headquarters in Shifnal on the Shropshire, Staffordshire border.

The charity, which responds to 4,500 missions a year across the six Midlands counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands, approached its hygiene supplier Trust Hygiene Services Ltd to recommend a single dispenser system that could deliver hygiene and cost in use and prevent wastage in staff washrooms, a kitchen and busy clinical spaces at its 1832 square metre facility.

Needing to cater for staff and visitors, but without compromising on the quality of the consumables themselves, Trust Hygiene Services specified a range of North Shore products for the staff washrooms. 26 toilets have been fitted with Northwood’s 2,500-sheet capacity Side-by-Side twin toilet roll dispensers, which contain North Shore 2-ply recycled paper. The washrooms also feature North Shore manual soap dispensers with foam soap and folded hand towel dispensers, which contain North Shore premium recycled Z-fold hand towels.

Ian Roberts, CQC registered manager at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “The move into the new building gave us the perfect opportunity to choose more durable and functional washroom dispensers that are quick and easy to refill and are controlled-use to minimise waste. It was also really important that the units were high capacity to reduce the need for our maintenance team to constantly check and replenish them.”

The North Shore Side by Side toilet roll dispensers prevent ‘free rolling’ and only allow access to the next roll once the current one has been used to curtail waste and deliver cost savings, whilst the folded towel dispensers dispense sheets one at a time to avoid over-use.

The kitchen and clinical areas in the new building are kitted out with Northwood’s mechanical hands-free towel roll dispensers and soap dispensers with additional dispensers containing alcohol-based hand sanitiser being located at doorways to provide added hygiene for patients and staff.

As part of its mission to use as many environmentally sustainable products as possible, the charity ensured that all the paper products chosen were made using 100% recycled material with Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification. All paper products are flushable and are designed to break down to avoid costly and inconvenient blockages.

“Sustainability is important to us as an organisation and that filters down to our choice of partners and products,” Ian Roberts said. “We always try to source from UK manufacturers as this helps to reduce the miles that goods have to travel, and we look for products that aren’t wasteful to minimise the impact on the environment. The North Shore system naturally limits consumption and offered us recycled paper as an option, so it is more sustainable. And because Northwood is a UK manufacturer, we know that their products have to travel less, which helps our carbon footprint.”

The North Shore dispensers are constructed from highly durable ABS to minimise any damage that may be caused in use and they are lockable to keep their contents safely stored inside. They are also easy to install and re-stock and feature clear inspection windows so the charity’s maintenance staff can see at a glance if they need refilling.

“We have been very pleased with the transition to North Shore,” Ian Roberts added. “The dispensers are robust, look smart and are easy to wipe clean. They are not fiddly to fill and we have had no issues at all with jammed machines, which were problems we faced sometimes with our former dispensers. We’re confident that over time the North Shore system will deliver cost savings too and we have plans to roll it out to another one of our bases at Strensham in Worcestershire.”

Providing zero waste and volume in use, the high-capacity North Shore range is both economical and environmentally sustainable. North Shore offers industry-leading capacity and is easy to install and maintain, as well as being durable, hygienic and stylish.

All North Shore packaging (including cardboard cores, cardboard cartons and paper and plastic wraps) is fully recyclable. Furthermore, more than 90% of North Shore products sold are made from 100% recycled material with Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification.

For more information visit www.northwood.co.uk, email customer.service@northwood.co.uk or call 01952 236930.

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