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Original poster

Someone berated me for asking why they are making "Scrubs bags" for the NHS

163 replies

menacingvern · 19/04/2020 23:28

I signed up to help this person, however all they seem to be making are pillow cases for doctors and nurses to take their scrubs home.
I thought this was really unhygienic as they are going to be made of cotton.

I told her they would have to be lined with some sort of plastic to stop infection and then she called me for everything.
She has people on her page saying "My (dad, mother,son,uncle,gran.....) died I would like the sheets she died in to be made into a nice bag for the NHS workers to know how much they meant to her"
I find this a bit weird, disgusting and a total spread of corona virus.
I may be totally wrong but I would not want to touch a dead persons sheets made into a scrub bag

OP posts:
LetTheCabbagesDie · 19/04/2020 23:57

OP, that's seriously fucking weird. And quite morbid. I wouldn't want to carry around sheets someone has died in to "remember them by" Confused

Geraniumblue · 19/04/2020 23:58

I am making scrub bags. But out of an unwanted tablecloth. I assume we wouldn’t have been asked to make them if they weren’t slightly useful. The care workers/nhs staff request them directly from the co-ordinators page and we make them.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:00

Yeah I just thought buy pretty pillow cases and send them...but then you have the problem of who might be a carrier of covid-19 and are randomly sending stuff to the N.H.S

OP posts:
Isawthathaggis · 20/04/2020 00:07

@Geraniumblue who asked you to make them though?
I’ve seen lots of posts about people thinking it’s a good idea, and people making them, but not one from an official source requesting them.

It’s like the ‘paint a rainbow for the hospital’ thing that turned out to be well intentioned but false, but for adults.

Nanny0gg · 20/04/2020 00:08

There aren't enough pillowcases! So lots of people are making them out of duvet covers and sheets, as you can get a few out of a double.

All this is in conjunction with what hospitals are specifically asking for.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:10

I have 3 teddies in windows and a rainbow on the front door. This means we will never catch covid19

OP posts:
Geraniumblue · 20/04/2020 00:12

It came up from a local Facebook page - it covers the area where I live and is a voluntary co-ordinated sewing group. So no, not an official source. They’ve made about 3000 items so far. Organisations or individuals request directly from them - so care home staff and smaller local hospitals are included.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:13

Where are there no pillowcases. Everyone has about a dozen and if washing them kills everything then you would only need one. Put it in with the scrubs dry it out with them...job done

OP posts:
Thedogscollar · 20/04/2020 00:20

menacingvern Please tell me how teddies in your window and rainbows on your door prevent you catching a virus Confused

Scrunchcake · 20/04/2020 00:23

I've made some for a local group and also for friends - nurses and GPs - who have asked for them. Some of them were using pillow cases but have found the drawstring bags more secure to carry their uniform home without it falling out. Also pillowcases apparently aren't big enough for some uniforms (eg ambulance)

The group I'm in has contacts in each hospital or setting who are liaising to give instructions re fabrics etc. They have also banned homemade masks :)

ViciousJackdaw · 20/04/2020 00:25

@menacingvern Grin Grin

I have liked and shared 11 Facebook posts re: corona so imagine I am immune too.

FelicityBeedle · 20/04/2020 00:26

I’m making scrub bags, lots of local care homes have requested them. I’m also making Olson masks in which you can insert a filter, I don’t pretend they’re clinical standard but there are people in the community delivering food parcels, shopping for vulnerable who want a bit of extra protection, so I really don’t get why people scoff at mask makers

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/04/2020 00:27

DD is an ODP, scrubs stay at work and get boiled washed and sanitized. Where on earth are they being sent home?! She is horrified that this might happen, but has said that this is probably more a morale thing and they are not actually being used to take scrubs home.

bythehairsonmychinichinchin · 20/04/2020 00:29

I’m a healthcare professional and really wouldn’t want to be given a wash bag made out of sheets or pillow cases that someone had died on. Not just because of hygiene reasons it just makes me feel really uncomfortable.

Also one drawstring bag for my uniform wouldn’t be enough. I’d need at least 6 so I can wash and dry my uniform after each shift as I can’t wash my uniform on a hot wash together as the trousers are dark and the tunic is light and the colours run. I’d also need separate shoe bags so I can bung my shoes in the wash as I can’t wash them with my uniform.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:30

That was terrible grammar in the last post.

Why are there no pillowcases?
Everybody I know has about a dozen of which they never use.
If washing them on a high heat kills every virus then we shall throw away the silk pillow slips.
To hell with the tapestries on the wall.
I shall make everything into fabulously disgusting bags

OP posts:
Scrunchcake · 20/04/2020 00:32

@PyongyangKipperbang Loads of healthcare workers wash their uniforms at home. And lots are currently wearing scrubs where they would normally wear their "own" clothes.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:34

Thedogscollar It was a joke in reference to how people are trying to help. We are to.d to stay inside but people congregate outside hospitals to clap

OP posts:
bythehairsonmychinichinchin · 20/04/2020 00:35

DD is an ODP, scrubs stay at work and get boiled washed I must admit I’m confused about staff taking scrubs home and the hygiene implications. Every trust I’ve worked at scrubs are left at work not taken home.

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/04/2020 00:38

Yeah, if they are taken home, why wear them at all instead of your own clothes? MAkes no sense to me.

DD gets to work, showers, changes. Works and then showers, scrubs go into "work wash", she dresses and goes home. Then she showers again and her own clothes go straight in the wash.

bythehairsonmychinichinchin · 20/04/2020 00:39

Loads of healthcare workers wash their uniforms at home. And lots are currently wearing scrubs where they would normally wear their "own" clothes

That makes sense then why there’re taking scrubs home. Operating theatre and hospital staff that wear scrubs leave their scrubs at work as they are washed as part of the hospitals laundry.

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/04/2020 00:39

Her skin is, in her words, like sandpaper.

Original poster
menacingvern · 20/04/2020 00:46

ViciousJackdaw You my friend are one of the lucky ones as you have both liked and shared...now get a bloody rainbow in your window and sew a disgusting scrubs bag. Then you may reach the promised land...being first in the queue to your preferred Supermarket.

OP posts:
bythehairsonmychinichinchin · 20/04/2020 00:47

Yeah, if they are taken home, why wear them at all instead of your own clothes? MAkes no sense to me

It sounds like some healthcare staff are wearing scrubs rather than their own clothes (not all staff wear a uniform) to avoid cross contamination and brining the virus home, plus scrubs are more comfortable to work in, and the staff may also need to be wearing PPE so need to be comfortable at work. If they work in care homes or on hospital wards they might not have access to a laundry service like there is for the operating theatres and I’m assuming hospital laundry services have been effected and not working at full capacity to turn over as much clean laundry.

Lynda07 · 20/04/2020 00:51

I imagine the scrubs bags would go in the washing machine with the clothes then dried to be taken back to work and used again. I can't see anything wrong with that.

Sunnypeople · 20/04/2020 00:53

We are getting to having embroidered rainbows on scrubs for our FB group, it’s all getting very fancy.

We didn’t clap last week plus I laughed at a security guard who posted a selfie of himself in a face mask for FB and said he was fighting Coronavirus on our behalf.

So no supermarket slot for me.