This Newcastle skincare startup's crowdfunding is giving NHS nurses a helping hand

Research conducted by Nursem and The Nursing Times has revealed that 87 per cent of NHS nurses and midwives suffer with hand issues, costing the NHS an estimated £9m in sickness absence.

As a result, Newcastle-based Nursem - a therapeutic skincare brand - is aiming to provide free hand care to all NHS nurses and midwives by 2025 by giving them a month’s worth of hand cream (50ml) for every product sold.

There are currently 419,000 NHS nurses and midwives in the UK, who each wash their hands on average 55 times a day, leading to serious issues such as contact dermatitis.

Witnessing the effects of relentless hand washing, Jonny Philp (husband of paediatric nurse Antonia) created Nursem - a skincare brand that aims to nourish and protect skin, on and off-duty.

Nursem hand cream.

Jonny said: “After seeing my wife in so much pain after hospital shifts, I decided that I needed to do something to try and help.

“I recruited a panel of nurses and teamed up with Newcastle Science City to develop a hand cream that would protect and nurture healing hands.

“We’ve created a formula of nine naturally-derived active ingredients to soothe painful or irritated skin. Our mission is to make every shift better for registered nurses.”

The research - with 739 respondents - confirmed that only half (56 per cent) of the respondents have regular access to hand cream.

With this in mind, Jonny and Antonia have launched the brand with a hand cream that is specifically formulated for nurse/midwife work, and is also free from parabens and petrochemicals.

For every product sold, Nursem will provide a month’s worth of hand cream (50ml) to an NHS nurse or midwife.

To help with the launch, Nursem has launched a Crowdfunder page with a target of £20k. The company is urging the UK to contribute in order to help the most deserving sufferers.

Nursem is working with key nursing organisations including RCN Foundation, Florence Nightingale Foundation and the Nursing Times.

Nursem Protective Hand Cream comes in two sizes: 75ml, RRP £7.99 and 300ml, RRP £19.99.