Industry urged to make more NHS ventilators

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to speak to engineering firms about whether they can shift production lines to building NHS ventilators.

Following growing concern about a shortage of the life-saving equipment as coronavirus infections increase, Downing Street said it wanted the manufacturing sector ‘to come together to help the country’.

It said: “Preparing for the spread of the coronavirus outbreak is a national priority and we're calling on the manufacturing industry and all those with relevant expertise who might be able to help to come together to help the country tackle this national crisis. We need to step up production of vital equipment such as ventilators so that we can all help the most vulnerable, and we need businesses to come to us and help in this national effort."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock had told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that engineering firms should consider switching some manufacturing to help ramp production of the vital equipment. He accepted it was the kind of policy normally reserved for times of war. If the policy is introduced, the Prime Minister will ask whether specialist firms that make ventilators and other critical equipment might be prepared to share their intellectual property.

Ventilators are vital in the treatment of patients whose lungs have been attacked by the infection. Hancock told Sky News that the country currently has 5,000 ventilators but said it would need ‘many times more than that’.