Academics from the University of Bath have stepped in to help staff in the city’s hospitals combat coronavirus by overcoming a shortage of much-needed personal protection equipment (PPE).
In just three days the university’s Faculty of Engineering & Design has produced and delivered 250 face shields, pictured, for medical staff in the Royal United Hospital’s (RUH) emergency department and medical assessment unit. 
Meanwhile mechanical engineering experts are collaborating with the hospital to see if they can double the capacity of its critical ventilators by using computer modelling to understand how life-saving machine could be safely used between two patients.
A third project team has designed and manufactured Perspex enclosures for equipment trolleys to save time spent cleaning them between patient assessments.
The face shields, made from foam and hand-cut acetate sheets to protect medical staff and reduce the potential transmission of the virus during patient appointments, have been reverse-engineered to mirror the hospital’s existing stock.
While several staff from the Department of Mechanical Engineering have been involved in designing and testing them, they have been assembled by one university staff member working alone. Manufacturing of the face shields will continue over the coming weeks as the number of Covid-19 patients grows.
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust chief executive James Scott said: “We’re really grateful to the university for their expertise and this generous offer, which will help our teams to care for our patients and staff and keep them safe.
“We work closely with the university, particularly on research projects, and this is a great example of our continued collaboration.”
Dr Alexander Lunt, who is part of the team, said: “We’re hugely grateful for the incredible efforts staff at the RUH are putting in, so we’re pleased to be able to help. The expertise within the faculty means we’ve able to produce the face shields quickly and relatively simply.”
Foam parts for the shields have been supplied by Bristol firm Foam Cutting and Design.
The three projects helping the hospitals during the current coronavirus crisis have been supported by a £5,000 grant from the university’s alumni fund.
The university’s departments of Chemistry and Biology & Biochemistry have also helped by donating a range of its personal protection equipment including gloves, face masks and safety glasses.
Manewhile, Bath’s Institute of Coding has loaned servers that were to be used in cyber security teaching to the RUH to support hospital staff working from home.
Professor Richie Gill, who has been overseeing the partnership work within the Faculty of Engineering & Design, said: “We have over 25 people working on these projects. I’d like to acknowledge their efforts and thank all of them for working around the clock to help.”
Volunteers or businesses able to help make more face shields or with supplies to do so, can contact the team at medicalfaceshields@gmail.com
