Keeping a plaster cast or wound dressing dry can be a problem – especially if a holiday in the sun has been booked and all dreams of fun times in a swimming pool or the sea suddenly seem dashed. It was precisely that predicament that originally inspired the Bloccs’ management team to come up with a solution and now, having won an impressive two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for their ground breaking watertight and re-usable covers, Bloccs’ protectors are selling worldwide and have recently been listed for UK prescription.
As specialists in the design and manufacture of bespoke rubber products for a range of industries, Bloccs’ parent company Precision Dippings Manufacturing applied their long-standing expertise to develop a range of waterproof covers that fit easily and snugly over casts, dressings and PICC lines. In 2016, Bloccs won a Queen’s Award for innovation and, in 2019, followed that up with another win – this time for export.
Designed to provide watertight protection when users are swimming, showering and bathing, some customers have put Bloccs to much more rigorous testing as evidenced by their Facebook posts and photos. For example, Mairead wrote: “On 9 March, two weeks before a holiday of a lifetime to the Philippines I broke my hand. Once I recovered from the initial shock and realised that I would be spending 6 weeks in a cast, I did a quick Google search to find something that would allow me to partake in all the water activities that the Philippines offers. I stumbled upon your product, quickly read some reviews and purchased a short arm waterproof cast protector. I then prayed that it would reach me in Abu Dhabi before I left for my holidays. Fortunately, it arrived just in time!
“Despite it stating clearly that the protector is not designed for diving, snorkelling and the likes, I felt I would put it to the test and see what it was really made of. I am glad to tell you it most definitely survived snorkelling and diving (cliff diving to be precise), as well as helmet diving, canyoneering, boat parties, island hopping and parasailing.
“I would have been lost without it for those two weeks, it was an essential every time I left to go anywhere just in case an unexpected adventure arose! It most definitely #savedmyholiday.
“It also made a trip to Jordan with me and made an appearance in the Dead Sea. It has to be one of the best travelled Bloccs products ever. Thank you, thank you for coming up with such an excellent product and making it available all over the world!
“Although I’m happy to be cast free now, I will miss my protector, it served me well!”
Since limb fractures are a common reason for needing a Bloccs’ protector, a highly successful ‘Thank a Hospital’ initiative has been running in the UK for the last couple of years. Customers who have had outstanding care can nominate the hospital or department responsible and each month the Bloccs team presents one of those nominated with either a small donation or suitable gift in kind. The person nominating them also gets a prize.
“It’s been our way of expressing gratitude for all the tireless work that goes on in our NHS,” said Director Kate Richards. “We’re so lucky to have free healthcare in this country. Working with the medical industry worldwide has made us very aware of what an absolute treasure the NHS is and our ‘Thank a Hospital’ scheme is a very small way of being able to acknowledge that.”
Hospital leaflets and stickers about Bloccs are available. The range has recently been expanded to include waterproof covers for elbows, as well as arms and legs, and a new knee protector has also been introduced.
Bloccs’ products are available on prescription in the UK. Anyone interested in stocking Bloccs at a pharmacy – or would like to request some samples – please get in touch.
You can also watch a video of Bloccs in action HERE.
For more information, visit www.bloccs.com, https://www.facebook.com/bloccsprotectors
https://twitter.com/bloccswater https://www.instagram.com/bloccswaterproofprotectors/
and https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloccs/
