We missed out on ventilators because of this??!!!!

[Mamalicious16]

www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-boris-johnson-ventilator-eu-scheme-nhs-a9429196.html

Ok, one last thing to put my mind at rest can someone explain this comment?

"It's true, it was reported yesterday on the news but kept very very quiet."

It's true, it was reported yesterday on the news but kept very very quiet.

FFS is now the time for point scoring doubt it's 100% true .
The task which arrived overnight is unprecedented support rather than picking fault is the way forward .
If the company were that concerned why didn't they follow it up.

Agree @roses2

I don't understand why Leavers don't see that this is just a small example of what is happening with Brexit. This is ONE item. We have opted out of everything. Next year, expect to see this sort of cock up on a much larger scale.

My husband works for a major company being asked to build them

Oh great, a man speaks so it must be true.

I know some of the designers involved in the gtech case.

This is not fake news, the government have refused to work with the EU and offers from firms making approved designs have been turned down.

Meanwhile Brexit supporting offshore billionaire Dyson, who promptly shifted his own operations to Singapore and has never built a ventilator apparently is now drafted into design and build a new one.

@roses2, the EU has stopped any company to export medical supplies used in the CV-19 outside the EU.
The UK isnt part of the EU anyore and therefore doesnt have access even if BJ had contacted said companies.
We have called for help from the US, who will deliver ventilators for us, with the wrong voltage/frequency(?) if they were prodiced for the US market and at an eye awatering cost no doubt.

he UK isnt part of the EU anyore and therefore doesnt have access even if BJ had contacted said companies

The UK had the option to be part of the EU consortium for this and turned it down.

I don't think there's anything at all that'd make Leavers rethink. I've noticed over the years that with each new thing we are disadvantaged over because of Brexit, doesn't make Leavers change there minds, or question the lies certain politicians told, it just makes them hate the EU even more. If this EU ventilator system, or any collaboration they do does (and I'm not saying it will) reduce deaths and we suffer more for not being part of it, our politicians won't be blamed, the EU will. I thought the turning point with Leavers would come when Lyra McKee was killed, we were told Brexit would endanger peace, her death didn't more the needle at all. Not wanting any part of EU collaboration won't either, regardless of the cost.

So how many would we have got from the EU then?
Because it looks to me like they haven’t got enough as it is....
What’s the actual number we could have got from this deal with them?

C8H10N4O2

That is just incorrect and opinion. Both Dyson and GTech have come up with new designs and it is impressive how quickly they’ve done so. Nevertheless, both of their designs are completely new and are therefore unapproved for medical use at the moment. Approval normally takes months, if not years, but the government is working with both to accelerate this process, whilst maintaining patient safety.

In the meantime, a consortium led by Airbus and consisting of some of the UK’s best Engineering and Manufacturing companies have taken an approved design, already in production by a company called Smiths, and have set up manufacturing space, designed a production line, sourced components, and will begin prototype production this week. Full production should start next week and then ramp up to produce thousands of ventilators within a matter of a few weeks will be replicated across sites all over the UK.

In the meantime Smiths are ramping up their production several fold and should get a lot of credit for having completely opened up their design and manufacturing specifications to the consortium without any commercial consideration, simply with the humanitarian effort in mind.

The UK government is doing its best to meet this crisis head on and UK industry is working hard to meet the demands.

I wonder if any leavers have any regrets.. ...

Nevertheless, both of their designs are completely new and are therefore unapproved for medical use at the moment

The gTech designs were approved and predate the virus. Dyson came along when the business opportunity arose.

Feel free to defend the party line but I'm struggling to find any evidence of Dyson being interested in ventilators before there was a buck to be made.

Oh and also this doesn't address the companies already making approved designs for ventilators offering stocks to UK gov and being turned down.

I wonder if any leavers have any regrets..
They won't, they just hate the EU even more. The Sunday Mail is even blaming the EU for BJs CV.

C8H10N4O2

Dear Caffeine, you are, of course, perfectly entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts. As you can see through the article link below, both GTech and Dyson have created new designs (not existing ones) as a result of the ‘call to arms’ by the UK Government, and I truly hope that they can quickly obtain approval to supply them.

To your second point, the UK government hasn’t declined any genuine offers of the supply of medical equipment and has ramped up all existing approved suppliers. Other potential suppliers are being vetted and those most credible are already being set up.

There are no party lines here; just a genuine desire to reassure people that many people across government and private industry are working very hard, and successfully, to ensure that all of those people on the frontline of our NHS get the equipment that they need to save lives.

Keeping party flags flying, particularly Red ones, doesn’t help save one single life.

techcrunch.com/2020/03/26/dyson-and-gtech-answer-uk-call-for-ventilator-design-and-production-to-support-covid-19-response/?guccounter=1

Just a thought about priorities ...

There's a firm in Nantwich that had sourced 5000 and were ignored by government despite going through the correct channels. It really does look like contracts for tory donors and screw us.

thenantwichnews.co.uk/2020/03/24/nantwich-firm-blasts-government-over-delay-after-offering-5000-ventilators/

A Nantwich firm which helped source thousands of critical ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the UK, hit out at the Government after it delayed on the deal too long and lost them.

Award-winning company Direct Access helped source 5,000 life-saving ventilators and millions of COVID19 test kits through its UAE partner Topland.

Their work helped give them access to suppliers/manufacturers throughout the world such as Dubai-based Topland Trading.

Seven days ago, Direct Access boss Steven Mifsud contacted the Dept of Health with the offer of 5,000 new ventilators. This was followed two days later with a potential 50 million self-test COVID-19 kits.

He said Crewe & Nantwich MP Kieran Mullan also helped to communicate the offer to Sec of State for Health Matt Hancock’s office.

The firm registered on the “ventilator challenge” page on the The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) website.

But five days later, Health bosses still had not made a decision and the supplies were then snapped up by other customers.

Mr Mifsud said: “Time is a luxury that we as a nation do not have.

“This virus does not wait for anyone and every second costs lives.

“Look at Italy, Iran and China.

covid19 ventilators
ventilators

“The idea of getting existing British companies to learn how to manufacture ventilators is not the route forward, we do not have time.

“I am incredibly frustrated with the British Government and the current ‘manana’ attitude.

“The Prime Minister himself said there was a shortage and companies needed to gear up to meet demand.”

He said despite the communication, the only reply they received from DoH was a “thank you” and that “you are in our system”.

Andy Faulkner, the manager of Topland, said: “I quoted a country for one million thermometers with air freight and they confirmed the order the same day.

“Earlier this afternoon I had a meeting with venture capitalists and they closed a deal within hours.

“The delay and dithering of the British Government is absolutely astonishing.”

Mr Mifsud added: “From my personal standpoint, Direct Access is being kept alive due to our international contracts as the UK work has completely dried up.

“However, this is not important right now and this period can be likened to wartime. We can pick up the pieces later.

“It is my duty to try and help our Government and local MP as much as I can regardless of whether they are accepting or not.

“To his credit Dr Mullan MP has been very responsive. However it looks like things are bogged down in procedures and bureaucracy. This costs lives.”

He said they were told by the Department of Health that they have had “over 1,400 lines of requests and enquiries” and that this “will take time”.

“But on March 21 we were told the supplies had gone and it is now likely to be June or July at the earliest due to other countries taking the manufacturing slots.”

Yesterday (March 22), Direct Access and Topland managed to find 500 ventilators ready for immediate pick up from another source.

Mr Mifsud said he immediately contacted the Government Ventilator challenge body but just received an auto-responder 24 hours later.

Crewe and Nantwich MP Dr Mullan said: “The Dept of Health has received an enormous volume of enquiries and is inevitably going to respond to each one straight away.

“I want to thank Steven for his efforts and I am continuing to press for them to be looked at. I think the public will understand the enormous challenges we are facing.”

We have contacted Department of Health and are awaiting a comment.

But in a reply to Mr Mifsud seen by Nantwich News, a spokesperson said: “Cabinet Office have confirmed and apologised for being slow to respond to all offers made via the BEIS registration page, but this has been due to the huge amounts of offers they have received.

“The team are working hard to deal with the shortage of ventilators and are doing the best they can in matching relevant offers of support.

“They intend to reach out to companies to inform them if their offer has been accepted, and everyone who registered on the website should be contacted early this week, so please do be patient.

“The BEIS website will be updated to say that they will not be accepting any further offers.”

Where is the logic in gtech and dyson making new designs when existing approved designs are available? Even with a fast-track approval process weeks are wasted. Patents?

Lots of procurement and supply chain specialists now, maybe you could volunteer your knowledge to help clear the backlog of work?

titchy

The important thing is that the work that Dyson and GTech are doing is ‘And and Also’. The government will buy their Ventilators if and when they are approved but this is in addition to the work that the Airbus led consortium are doing to produce thousands of the current Smiths design (approved and already in use) plus the current producers such as Smiths are ramping up their own production.

In this time of crisis it’s not a competition but a collaborative approach, with expertise in Procurement, Supply Chain, Logistics, Design, Manufacturing all being brought to bear.

But dyson and gtech aren't collaborating if they're making a new design? And as far as I am aware we will need more that the aerobus consortium can manufacture in the time available. What's the advantage to the U.K. of a new design? None. What's the advantage of a new design to the manufacturer? Potentially £££.

Something else I’m confused about (it doesn’t take much)

HAD we entered into this procurement agreement with the EU, would we still have been able to manufacture our own for our own use? Or would everything we manufactured have to go into the pot, and be divvied out?

HAD we entered into this procurement agreement with the EU, would we still have been able to manufacture our own for our own use? Or would everything we manufactured have to go into the pot, and be divvied out?

The EU procurement initiative was about securing a good price for existing kit from established suppliers. As with everything else to do with the EU and UK, the UK would have been at liberty to pursue it's own policy as regards making new kit. If it could.

Yep, I would be extremely surprised if there wasn't a clause about distributing machines made here somewhat equally. There aren't enough floating around globally to fulfil demand for everyone, and the assumption that being able to secure more at better value because of economies of scale in this situation is extremely naieve. The benefits of designing one here is that they can be exactly to spec. They are also buying off the shelf, some of which won't be compatible or ideal, but a big consideration is acquiring some for field hospitals, which have unique demands and requirements- using both routes (eg buying and making) is more likely to be successful in reaching targets.

@ProfessorSlocombe actually EU regs are very specific about what is allowed or not, entering into an agreement even in these exceptional circumstances was likely to hold similar caveats.