The NHS may not have enough ventilators to keep coronavirus patients alive if the public fail to take steps to slow the pandemic’s spread, the head of the health service warned today.
Sir Simon Stevens said that plans were in place for a 50 per cent increase in the number of lifesaving mechanical breathing aids available from just over 8,000 to 12,000 in the next few weeks, with machines coming in from private hospitals and even the Army.
But grilled by MPs in the Commons today he said that whether it was enough to save lives would depend on the public response to warnings from the Government designed to delay transmission.
It came as experts warned that Government plans to get manufacturers like Dyson and JCB to transfer production lines over to making the livesaving machines could take months.
At the same time there was also a warning from the Doctor’s Association UK that the NHS is short of trained staff to operate them.
Asked by Health Select Committee chairman Jeremy Hunt whether the NHS in England has enough ventilators, Sir Simon said: ‘That will partly depend on the clinical protocols that are being used for the patients that are requiring care … it will also depend partly, frankly, on the extent to which we, the people of this country, respond to the asks that have been made of us.
‘It is very important that collectively we do, because that is what will keep this infection rate down.’
The grim advice unveiled yesterday by Boris Johnson – with people urged to avoid all ‘nonessential’ social contact – was laid bare today as the PM told the Cabinet that the country is ‘engaged in a war against the disease which we have to win’.
Sir Simon Stevens said that plans were in place for a 50 per cent increase in the number of lifesaving mechanical breathing aids available from just over 8,000 to 12,000
Today’s ventilators include a computer-electronic control system with valves, regulators, filters, oxygen and exhalation sensors, flow meters.
Mr Johnson later told the nation ‘we only really have a few weeks’ to build the ventilators it is expected the NHS will need.
He added: ‘What I want, what all business wants – to explain what I’m seeing – is an end to suffering.
‘That is why they are working incredibly hard in the next few weeks, and we only really have a few weeks, to build literally thousands of ventilators that this country will need.’
He added: ‘The British industry, manufacturers are responding to this challenge with incredible energy and determination.’
Mr Johnson plunged the UK into a coronavirus lockdown that could last 18 months after experts warned that the ‘worst case’ scenario of 250,000 deaths had become the most likely outcome.
Sir Simon told the MPs there were a total of 6,699 adult mechanical ventilators in the NHS, as well as further 750 paediatric mechanical ventilators which can be re-purposed.
There are also an estimated 691 in the private sector and 35 in the Ministry of Defence, bringing the total to 8,175.
He added: ‘For some weeks now we have been out preparing and procuring our mechanical ventilators, and can see a line of sight over the next several weeks to another 3,799.’
A medical ventilator works as an artificial set of lungs – getting oxygen in and removing carbon dioxide from the body – and is used to treat respiratory diseases.
But concerns have been raised as to how quickly production of ventilators that are up to regulatory standards can be increased to meet demand.
The Government’s website has posted a form for businesses to full in if they can help.
The Government’s website has posted a form for businesses to full in if they can help
Dyson, Rolls Royce, JCB, Honda, Philips and Unipart are among those who have either been confirmed to be involved with the request or have registered their interest.
A spokesman for Wiltshire-based Dyson told MailOnline: ‘Using our expertise and resources we are working with other companies to see if we can provide a rapid solution.’
Rolls Royce, meanwhile, told MailOnline: ‘We understand that the government is exploring ways in which businesses can help deal with the outbreak of COVID-19.
‘As they shape their plans, we are keen to do whatever we can to help the government and the country at this time and will look to provide any practical help we can.’
A spokesman for logistics company Unipart also confirmed to this website that it had been approached by the government.
‘We’re pleased to be involved in such an important project and doing everything we can to help,’ they said.
Healthy people below the age of 70 have been urged to work from home if they can, to avoid socialising or going out and to stop all non-essential travel
Data from the Imperial College team shows that nothing can stop the coronavirus overwhelming NHS intensive care units. Even the most strict quarantine measures would not prevent there being far more cases than there are beds to handle
UK authorities had confirmed 1,543 cases of the coronavirus and 55 deaths by yesterday. The true number of infected people is believed to be higher than 25,000
Professor David Delpy, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: ‘This proposal assumes that the NHS wants more of the latest spec ventilators with all the usual manufacturers’ guarantees and liability cover.
‘Since modern ventilators are usually electronically controlled with a variety of built-in sensors, there may be supply chain limitations on how rapidly one can ramp up production.
‘The previous generation of mechanical ventilators were relatively simpler, and components could be manufactured by many engineering companies with fairly standard machine tools.
‘These are certainly adequate for all but the most complex ventilation support cases, but I suspect there are currently no UK manufacturers of these since there is no NHS market for them.’
Boris Johnson was warned that the NHS is short of trained staff to operate ventilators even if they are built
Dr Rinesh Parmar, chair of the Doctor’s Association UK, added: ‘Whilst NHS hospitals make emergency plans to create ITU [intensive treatment unit] beds and the government purchases more ventilators, the elephant in the room is the lack of highly trained intensive care nurses and doctors.
‘It is pointless acquiring new ventilators without enough highly trained staff to operate them.’
Dr Parmar added that securing more capacity in private hospitals could free up more space to treat coronavirus patients needing breathing assistance. But he warned there were still too few intensive care beds within these hospitals.
He added: ‘The systematic under-resourcing of the NHS and exodus of staff that the government has presided over has ultimately left the country with a severe lack of specialist intensive care nurses and doctors.’