* Britain scrambles for ventilators
* Companies come up with ventilator prototype - UK
* Newly-made ventilator should be approved next week - UK
* One source says production will begin in 4 weeks
(Adds details from industry sources)
By Sarah Young, Kate Holton and Costas Pitas
LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday that
engineering companies had come up with an emergency ventilator
prototype to treat coronavirus patients that could be approved
next week, though one industry source told Reuters full
production was several weeks away.
Britain, where 145 people with COVID-19 have died so far,
has a shortage of ventilators which can save the lives of those
who develop complications after contracting the virus. The UK's
existing stock of around 5,000-8,000 ventilators is inadequate.
Given such an acute shortage in a country with a population
of 67 million, the government scrambled to ask top engineering
companies to retool their production to make ventilators.
"More than half a dozen companies have already made one in
prototype, to check with us that we are happy with the quality,"
health minister Matt Hancock said.
Hancock said he hoped the new ventilators would be approved
for use in hospitals by the end of next week.
"I would be surprised if it was longer than then," he said.
"We need as many as you can possibly make and we will buy them."
A source familiar with the manufacturing situation told
Reuters that the prototype would be available next week with
manufacturing to start in 4 weeks time. Other industry sources
told Reuters that they were ready to act but that they needed
more details from government on what was expected from them.
British companies have formed three teams, led by aerospace
engineer Meggitt and carmakers McLaren and Nissan
to pursue the rapid production of ventilators. European
planemaker Airbus has offered help with 3D technology
and facilities if other companies need it.
"When needs must, we can perform and I'm sure the same would
be true for ventilators ... if we were given the right brief and
opportunity to do so," Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark told
Reuters.
Britain faces a "massive shortage" of ventilators that will
be needed to treat critically ill patients suffering from
coronavirus, after it failed to invest enough in intensive care
equipment, a leading ventilator manufacturer said.
Estimates of the potential death toll in the United Kingdom
range from a around 20,000 to over 250,000 or even more. As of
March 19, 64,621 people have been tested in the UK, of which
61,352 were confirmed negative and 3,269 were confirmed
positive.
COME BACK
Britain casts its National Health Service, which offers
healthcare free at the point of use for everyone from cradle to
grave, as one of its greatest national achievements. But many
doctors say it should be better funded and managed.
Britain has asked 65,000 former nurses and doctors to return
to work and will deploy final-year medical students and student
nurses to fight the coronavirus health crisis, the health
ministry said.
"We can’t do it alone, so I am urging all recent former
nurses to lend us your expertise and experience during this
pandemic, because I have no doubt that you can help to save
lives," said Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is writing out to more
than 50,000 nurses whose registration has lapsed in the last
three years. The General Medical Council will write to another
15,500 doctors who have left the register since 2017.
Britain's health service is freeing up 30,000 beds by
postponing non-urgent operations and providing care in the
community for those who are fit to be discharged, and finding up
to 10,000 in independent and community hospitals, the health
service said.
Hancock also said 150 trucks were being sent to 150
hospitals, about half of all those in the country, to provide
more protective equipment such as masks and hand sanitiser.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Holton and Sarah Young
Editing by Michael Holden, Peter Graff, William Maclean)