The NHS needs ventilators now more than anything else, as it takes on the coronavirus outbreak, the Heath Secretary said.
Engineers have already been asked to draw up plans to quickly produce more ventilators in the UK, amid concerns that critical care facilities will come under intense pressure as the Covid-19 crisis intensifies.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will personally urge manufacturers to shift their production lines to build ventilators, as the NHS prepares for a significant increase in cases of Covid-19.
“A specific team receiving these calls will start at 10am tomorrow.”
The Prime Minister is calling for a National Effort for Ventilator production. We have been inundated with offers. If you produce ventilators please call the BEIS Business Support helpline on 0300 456 3565.
A specific team receiving these calls will start at 10am tomorrow.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) March 15, 2020
On Monday Mr Johnson will urge manufacturers to join a “national effort” to produce equipment for the NHS.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: “We start with around 5,000 ventilators, we think we need many times more than that, and we are saying if you produce a ventilator then we will buy it.
“No number is too high.”
He added: “They are relatively complicated pieces of kit, I couldn’t make one, but they’re not so complicated that the advanced manufacturing that this country is so good at now can’t be able to turn its production lines over to.
“So anybody who can should turn production and their engineering minds over to the production of ventilators.”
He added: “The thing the NHS needs now more than anything else is more ventilators.
“We’ve been buying as many as we can but we need to produce more too.”
Mr Hancock said he could not make guarantees that everyone who requires a ventilator will get one, saying: “We don’t make guarantees in healthcare.”
Asked if he is more worried now than two weeks ago, he said: “Of course I’m worried, I mean I said two weeks ago that this situation could change on a daily basis and in fact that is exactly what has happened.”
Dr Nagpaul said the UK’s lack of ventilators when compared to other countries is “a result of a decade of under-funding”.
He added: “And now what, therefore, we need to do, is make some really decisive decisions on how that limited resource is used in the best possible way for those who are going to need it.
“And that may require, and it should require actually, some major decisions on ceasing non-urgent routine care, a mass move towards many more consultations occurring remotely.”
He added: “We need to have clear plans how patients can be remotely managed and how the technology can support that.”
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: “We have been approached by the Prime Minister to see if we can help with the production of ventilators.
“We have research and engineering teams actively looking at the request at the moment.
“It’s unclear as yet if we can assist, but as a British company, we will do whatever we can to help during the unprecedented times our country is facing.”
“They will be anxious to help produce what the nation needs at this unprecedented time.
“But it would help if the Government worked with the unions and the industry to co-ordinate taking this forward.
“It is more than disappointing that there has yet to be a national cross-industry summit to discuss both keeping people safe and the economy stable.
“If Government is to be taken seriously about stepping up to the crisis and putting the country on the footing needed, I urge ministers to call such a summit as a matter of urgency. Unite stands ready to meet at any time. Just pick up the phone.”
