UK confident of delivering tens of thousands of ventilators
Shortage of oxygen-delivering machines is already a ‘real issue’ for hospitals in London
The UK government insisted it was on track to deliver tens of thousands of ventilators for treating coronavirus patients as it faced mounting criticism over its procurement plans and warnings that struggling hospitals may have to wait weeks for the critical devices.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of National Health Service Providers, on Thursday said a shortage of ventilators was already a “real issue” for hospitals in London, which is the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK.
He told the BBC’s Today programme that hospitals in the capital were struggling with an “explosion” of demand and faced a “continuous tsunami” of seriously ill patients. He later warned that in “three or four places, it's clear that they [hospitals] will run out of critical care capacity, probably by the weekend”.
The NHS has access to 8,175 ventilators, which deliver oxygen to patients with acute respiratory difficulties.
Edward Argar, junior health minister, said the NHS would start to see a “steady delivery” of 8,000 ventilators “over the coming week, two weeks, three weeks”. Officials have indicated 30,000 would be required in total.
Following prime minister Boris Johnson’s call for industry to help plug the shortfall, companies including Airbus, Nissan and McLaren have seconded engineers to tackle the problem.
Dyson, the vacuum maker, on Wednesday said it had received a government order for 10,000 ventilators that it designed in 10 days. It expects to begin deliveries in “weeks”, but the government said this hinges on the ventilators passing regulatory and safety tests.
But businesses already involved in the production of medical devices have questioned the government’s approach, arguing that it should have engaged more with specialist suppliers.
“The government appears to be much faster to communicate with the non-medical ventures than they do with the existing medical device supply chain,” said an engineer at one company who asked not to be named.
Andrew Rayner of MEC Medical, which produces ventilator parts, said he received a reply from the government three weeks after his company first offered help.
“There are lots of companies that have ventilators and are accredited by notified bodies. Why didn’t they just give them money to upscale?” he said. “Why are we going off on a tangent to make something from scratch?”
Officials insisted the government’s approach was on track and ministers were not just focused on working with the big-name manufacturers. They said this involved pursuing a number of avenues with different companies, both large and small, as well as importing ventilators from abroad.
The government is expected to offer support to companies already producing two existing models in the UK, said people aware of the matter.
However, Downing Street defended its decision that the UK would not participate in EU-wide efforts to source ventilators and testing kits.
Despite the fact that the UK left the bloc in January, the government was still eligible to take part in the EU initiatives during the Brexit transition period.
Asked why the government chose not to participate in the EU efforts, a Downing Street spokesman said: “Well, we are no longer members of the EU.”
Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat MP, accused the government of putting “Brexit over breathing".
A government spokesperson said: “Owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time to join in four join procurements in response to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Officials in Brussels were perplexed when asked about the UK explanation about communication problems. The European Commission publicly announced the calls for tender and it was for individual countries to decide whether to join, EU officials said.
The EU has initiated procurement exercises for masks and other
protective equipment, lab equipment, testing kits and ventilators.
As well as scrambling to source ventilators, the UK government is also working to strengthen the capacity of the health service. The NHS is recruiting thousands of extra staff, including recent retirees, and setting up a 4,000-bed military field hospital in east London.
However, the British Medical Association warned doctors were still being forced to work on the frontline of the crisis without adequate personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks.
It cautioned evidence was growing that thousands of doctors and other hospital staff were “still not being provided with the kit they need to properly protect themselves and their patients”.