Those working on the front line of care in West Devon have spoken out about ‘profiteering’ suppliers who have hiked up prices of scarce PPE ‘ten-fold’ during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Care companies say they have relied on the generosity of local firms and council help to make up the shortfall.

Masks and gloves donated by local firms have been crucial to allowing care staff to stay safe while caring for elderly people in the community.

This comes as the pressure is ratcheted up nationally for care workers to be treated equally with NHS staff in allocating scarce protective equipment.

Kevin Cowie, managing director of Tavistock-based care company Kinship Connect, said: ‘We’ve had to work very hard to maintain a plentiful supply of PPE, however, it has been very disconcerting to witness the profiteering within the marketplace and our experience is that the cost of PPE has increased ten-fold. For a small business like ours, that is unsustainable in the longer term.

‘On a more positive note, our local councils in both Devon and Cornwall have been as supportive as they could possibly be in providing a limited supply of PPE.’

He said he also wanted to pay ‘warm tribute’ to other local businesses who had helped them, with masks donated by Tinhay Building Supplies in Tavistock and Launceston and gloves from Power Precision and Fabrication in Gunnislake as well as homemade contributions from individuals.

They had also been heartened by the ‘fantastic response’ from people who had come forward to become temporary support workers for the firm.

Tavistock-based Tavy Care Services has also reported a scarcity of protective equipment and inflated prices — and paid tribute to local firms who stepped into the breach.

Tavy Care co-owner Chris Wiles said: ‘We have been able to source gloves and aprons, however, face masks have been in extremely short supply. We have managed to source some in the open market when our usual supply chain has been out of stock.

‘The difficulty with that is that delivery times are too long. We ordered some at the end of March and are still awaiting delivery of those. Furthermore, prices have been inflated on masks, protective glasses and gowns as well as hand sanitisers.

He added: ‘We have had a good response from local businesses to a request for face masks with Tinhay Building Supplies able to provide a contribution to our cause as well as members of the community offering to help and we would like to thank them all.

‘We want to keep our clients and our staff as safe as possible and it’s imperative we have the tools to do so.’

Figures from the Office for National Statistics released earlier this week reveal that in West Devon there have been eight deaths with coronavirus on the death certificate this year up until April 17, registered up until April 24. Of these, four were in hospital, two in care homes and two in people’s homes.