Fujifilm Instax supports the NHS

Fujifilm has been helping frontline medial workers in an unusual way – with Instax instant cameras.

The ongoing coronavirus crisis has thrown up many challenges for NHS staff and frontline medial workers all over the world, not least those surrounding personal protective equipment. The PPE is essential for keeping both workers and patients safe, but, in many cases, it means everything other than the eyes is obscured.

This can be worrying for patients, it can make it hard for doctors and nurses to reassure those they’re taking care of and indeed, it stops clinicians seeing their own colleagues’ faces. But Fujifilm has stepped in with an unusual yet effective solution.

A new initiative has seen Instax cameras donated to 31 different NHS hospitals across the country, allowing medial staff to show their faces, even if it’s only in a photo. Outside the UK, approximately 120 Instax cameras and 7,500 Instax prints have been sent to 50 hospitals in Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France and Denmark.

Rachel Power, CEO of the Patients Association, said: “PPE is vitally important for both keeping patients and doctors safe and reassuring patients about their safety at a worrying time. But there’s no doubt that masks can be a barrier between doctors and patients, or even transform a comforting presence into a disconcerting one. Having photos of the doctor without their mask is a simple but imaginative idea that should provide a lot of reassurance to patients who will be able to see the face behind the mask.”

Fujifilm wants to extend this offer to even more frontline workers. The company is encouraging health teams interested in receiving a special Instax kit to contact [email protected]