Formula One breathing aids sent to NHS hospitals

Breathing aids developed by Formula One engineers at Mercedes working with clinicians at top universities have been delivered to 46 NHS hospitals across the country.

The Ucl-ventura breathing aid, a low-flow Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, is being deployed to treat Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the UK, including the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and Forth Valley Hospital.

CPAP devices were used extensively in China and Italy to help Covid-19 patients breathe more easily, but the devices were in short supply in UK hospitals, so engineers at UCL and Mercedes-amg HPP worked round-the-clock to reverse engineer a device that could be manufactured rapidly by the thousands.

The Mark I CPAP flow device was produced within a rapid timeframe using the development facilities at Mercedesamg HPP – it took fewer than 100 hours from the initial meeting to production of the first device.

Mark II of the flow device, now being used in NHS hospitals, is much more efficient in terms of oxygen use than the first model, using up to 70 per cent less – which is crucial given concerns over some hospitals’ oxygen supply.

Two hundred and fifty volunteers from G-TEM, automotive manufacturing company, are procuring and assembling the patient kits that accompany the Mercedes-amg HPP produced CPAP flow device at a facility in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, and handdelivering them to hospitals.

Professor Rebecca Shipley, Director of UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, said: “Our focus from the beginning has been to get these devices to the NHS frontline when they are needed.

“My thanks go to the amazing army of volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make this happen at such a fast pace, and in particular G-TEM who have been pivotal in enabling quick delivery to hospitals across the NHS.”