Member Article

Cheshire-company delivers groundbreaking Electrosan sanitiser free of charge to care homes and a hospice to support the fight against Covid-

A Crewe-based company which has worked flat out during the Covid-19 pandemic supplying its revolutionary non-alcohol based santiser spray has delivered around £18,500 worth of stock to care homes and hospices in Cheshire and Staffordshire.

Electrosan, from Qualkem Brands, is scientifically stabilised electrically modified water and is proven to kill 99.9999% of germs, including Covid-19 and similar enveloped viruses, most within 12 seconds.

During the early stages of the UK Covid-19 crisis, Qualkem Brands, scaled up production to meet a 200% increase in demand from the NHS, dentists, care companies and industrial buyers.

But owners of the family business also wanted to recognise the sacrifices made and risks taken by care workers. In recent days, they have delivered nearly 2,500 bottles of Electrosan free of charge to Quality Care Commission approved care homes in the Crewe, Nantwich and Sandbach areas, together with a delivery to the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice, Stoke-on-Trent.

A special delivery was made to Parkhouse Care Home and Mews, Sandbach, where Rachael Anketell-Clifford, a Director of the company, was able to see her grandfather George Frazer, aged 99, while delivering Electrosan. Rachael was accompanied by her dad, Robert, who founded the company in 1971.

Managing Director, Ivan Anketell-Clifford said: “We launched our Electrosan Sanitiser Spray into the leisure sector as a handy sanitiser for campers and caravanners with little fanfare last summer. Demand has gone through the roof due to the COVID-19 crisis, something that we could never have predicted.

“We’re a family business and all our staff live in the East Cheshire area and we, therefore, all wanted to give something back to the care homes who have been battling with this deadly virus.

“It gives us great satisfaction to be able to support the care sector as we know they will have had to scale up their budgets for hygiene products and may also have been hit by a shortage due to the massive demand during the last two months.”

Ian Hill, Sales & Administration Manager, delivered scores of boxes of Electrosan to care homes across Cheshire. He said: “When we talked to care home staff and owners the need for more sanitiser products was clear and, from a personal perspective, it has been both incredibly satisfying and humbling to hear responses from the care homes who were so pleased that we turned up with a gift.”

Electrosan is stabilised hypochlorous; an electrically modified water, replicating a human body’s own natural antiseptic to fight infection. The hypochlorous process was discovered as long ago as 1834 and has been used in many applications, including to treat soldiers’ wounds during WW1, where it was made in-situ and used immediately, as the hypochlorous degrades within the matter of days.

However, it hasn’t been stabilised until now and this allows it to be used in a sanitiser spray with a 12-month shelf life.

Ivan added: “Electrosan is not just a hand sanitiser as it is highly versatile. It can be used to sanitise, disinfect, even deodorise hard and soft furnishings, and it acts as a skin antiseptic. Alcohol-based sanitisers can be harsh and lead to chapped hands and we now have customers who use Electrosan to treat their hands as well as to sanitise them. Because Electrosan is treated water, it doesn’t sting.

At present, Electrosan is generally not being sold as a retail product but is aimed at businesses to care for their staff and their families, and moreover, into essential businesses and services battling the current pandemic.

Qualkem is the parent trademarked brand of Repclif Chemical Services Ltd, a small family run firm based in Crewe, Cheshire. Repclif Chemical Services was founded in 1971 by Robert Frazer and Doug Holt who had both worked for the well-known Wellcome Foundation. The duo set up their own business to provide private labelled chemically blended products and before long were manufacturing for prestigious companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Portakabin and Rowenta, to name a few. Ivan, the son in law of founder Robert Frazer, now runs the company alongside his wife Rachael. In the past three years, Ivan has taken the business through a programme of change, moving away from a private-labelled operation via a two-pronged approach. Repclif has developed own label product lines under the Qualkem parent brand and, in partnership with market leading customers in targeted growth sectors, has collaboratively designed and produced numerous dual branded products. They are now closing in on 100 product lines under six Qualkem brands.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nigel Howle .