The Sunday Times Style magazine has launched an appeal asking readers to fund a £10 holster designed to help intensive care nurses working on the Covid-19 frontline.
The custom-designed Holdster allows nurses to keep their phones, pens, pagers, cash and other items with them while working on busy ICU shifts.
The functional product was thought of by Professor Hugh Montgomery, chair of intensive care medicine at UCL, who has seen on a day-to-day basis the practical issues of wearing full PPE which gives no access to pockets.
The Times and The Sunday Times kick-started the appeal by donating £15,000 to the project.
The papers have joined forces with the product’s designer Anya Hindmarch to drive the appeal, launched in Sunday’s Style magazine, to fund 30,000 Holdsters with the hope of delivering the product to all ICU frontline staff.
Writing in Style magazine, editor Lorraine Candy said, “As the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, the focus of the luxury fashion and beauty industry, as with other manufacturing industries, has been on helping make the work of NHS frontline staff easier — what can we do with our resources to improve their days? This thinking has led to some groundbreaking inventions that have proven long-term value, such as this holster.
“If you’re wondering how you can make a difference, this is a simple way to make the lives of frontline staff easier. For just £10 you can buy a Holdster and ease the working day of our hardest-working teams right now. If you’re contemplating an online shopping trip this week, then please count this as one of your new buys.”
Shipments of 400 Holdsters have reached ICU nurses so far at five UK hospitals caring for Covid-19 patients.
Speaking about the product, designer Hindmarch told Style, “This is an unlikely collaboration, but a wonderful one, as it is purely about function.
“It is wonderful that we managed to do this so quickly together, and one of the silver linings is that all sorts of projects like this, which may have taken years to get off the ground normally, are swiftly getting the green light.”
Hindmarch added the Holdsters will be an invention helpful to ICU staff during and post the Covid-19 crisis.
The Intensive Care Society’s JustGiving page can be reached here: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/anya-hindmarch-holdster
Picture: The Sunday Times Style
