What We Sew for Medical Use

The Scrubbery began with a simple response to urgent need: to make scrubs for frontline workers when supply chains could not keep up. Today, that same model of coordinated volunteer skill continues to underpin our structured, medical sewing programme.

How it Works

Using donated funds and fabric sourced through charitable initiatives, we procure medical-appropriate materials in bulk. Fabric is cut and made into carefully prepared kits by our cutting and assembling teams. These kits are then distributed to our volunteer sewers, who work from approved patterns and specifications to ensure consistency, durability and practicality in clinical settings.

Finished garments are returned to our hub for checking, packing and allocation. We respond directly to requests from hospitals, trusts and healthcare facilities, ensuring items are delivered where they are most needed.

Every stage — sourcing, cutting, sewing, checking and distributing — is carried out by volunteers.

What we Make

Our medical sewing focuses on practical, hard-wearing items designed for repeated use in demanding environments. These include:

  • Scrub tops and trousers (provided as sets or separates)

  • Theatre caps and scrub hats

  • Reusable gowns (where requested)

  • Laundry bags for safe garment handling

  • Well-being bags and contents

  • Adapted patient clothing

  • Quilts for children and wheelchair users

  • Children’s and adult pyjamas

  • Drain bags

All items are made to patterns that address suitability, comfort and durability. Where appropriate, we adapt designs in consultation with clinicians and ward teams.

Our Impact

To date, we have provided well over 65,000 handmade medical items to hospitals and healthcare providers across central and south-west London and beyond. Recipients have included:

  • Charing Cross Hospital

  • Ealing Hospital

  • West Middlesex Hospital

  • Hillingdon Hospital

  • Northwick Park Hospital

  • Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital

  • Royal Brompton Hospital

  • Kingston Hospital

  • St Peter’s Hospital

  • St Helier Hospital

  • Hammersmith Hospital

  • Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

  • The Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability

  • King’s College Hospital

  • St George’s Hospital

  • Southampton General Hospital

  • The Royal Marsden

  • Whipps Cross University Hospital

We also support smaller units, community healthcare providers and specialist facilities when approached.

Advocating for Better Use of NHS Resources

Our work has not only been about making garments, but about improving systems. Alongside local MP Fleur Anderson, we have lobbied for change in uniform procurement and sustainability within the National Health Service.

Through this advocacy, we have helped to change uniforms in hospitals and to highlight the volume of unused or surplus (“dead stock”) uniforms held within supply chains. Rather than allowing these garments to remain unused or be discarded, we have worked to redirect them where they are urgently needed.

Today, we collect surplus NHS uniform stock and coordinate its shipment to Ukraine, ensuring that high-quality medical garments reach hospitals and frontline responders operating in extremely challenging conditions. This work complements the humanitarian aid we already provide, extending the life and impact of existing resources while supporting medical teams abroad.