(Current chair of the IET healthcare technologies network here.) It seems to me there are 3 broad themes here:

1. On ventilator design/manufacturing, and 3D printing of parts and equipment. Clearly lots can, and is, being done here but the regulatory challenges are very significant and (personally I think there is a long way to go on the regulatory side). Clearly there is also a need for leadership in this space, and coordinating projects. We don't need 100 different open source ventilator designs, that effort could be better spent on refining and testing a few. (>1 is needed for redundancy and to have separate supply chains.)

• Mobile phone based tracking of people, movement and cases; easier reporting and similar. To my understanding this has worked very well in some Asian countries, but raises significant questions on privacy and what people will accept. (AI modelling of the spread and likely infection routes, prediction of infection risk on a per-person/site basis, likely comes in here too, although is likely well covered by the epidemiologists.)

• Support for Medical Physics. The shortage of engineers in the NHS is known already (~10,000 IIRC but don't quote me), and the IET/IPEM/IMechE already had on the radar from before this a campaign to highlight this shortage. It's only ever the shortage of nurses that is mentioned in the media. To me, this is both the least mentioned in the media and elsewhere (it is in the thread already) and is likely the easiest to actually do. In principle honorary contracts and emergency basic training on 1/2 tasks can be done very quickly. Engineers on the ground are going to be critical in terms of actually keeping the infrastructure going. 

BEIS has published a minimum specification for ventilators today. It still doesn't say what components are required and by whom, but it is certainly valuable if considering starting manufacture:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-ventilator-supply-specification/rapidly-manufactured-ventilator-system-specification

Hi All,


We are being slightly hampered by a power outage at MFH today meaning the server is down for everyone working remotely - but I have been making headway into collating a list of individuals who are willing to offer their time and expertise on this subject. Along with RAEng we are putting out the message below and coordinating where best to direct people to. The text below is being designed into a flyer as we speak so as soon as I have access to it I will circulate. In the meantime if you would like to be included on the list could you please let me know on this forum, along with your area of expertise?


Many thanks,

Kate-Zillah

Kate-Zillah Sharpe
Devolved Nations Lead

----------------

Can You Help to Engineer a Solution to COVID-19?

An increased demand for medical supplies and equipment provides an opportunity for the engineering profession and manufacturing sector to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.
More than 60 companies have already responded to the Prime Minister’s call for 3D-printing capabilities to tackle the shortage of ventilators, but the engineering community is ideally placed to do more.
If your company has the capability to divert production to components that could be used in ventilators or has the following skills of design/specification; rapid prototyping; contract/product assembly; certification/regulation/testing; logistics or medical training please register via the Government website at: https://ventilator.herokuapp.com/

If you are an Engineer wondering how you can support the fight against COVID-19 on an individual basis - we can help! Please email your contact details and area of expertise to SEP@theiet.org and we will ensure that your interest is passed on to the relevant organisation.

How can we harness the power of mobile phone technology. One suggestion is placing a mobile phone on the lower chest/stomach to measure breathing rate. I know that mobile phones can be used as a spirit level so they should be able to detect the rise and fall. This might be useful for when doctors are doing remote appointments with patients. If anyone has the skill set to build such an application I would be interested to see it. Also collectively I would ask if anyone has seen anything online where mobile phones have been used for medical diagnostic.

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/covid-19/covid-19-our-approach-to-temporary-registration/

i wonder if the front line biomedical engineering and clinical engineering could use non*-registered help in preparing or  simply returning equipment through  standard existing system of work back to clinical itu ? 


maybe hospital physics and engineering could help? If not urgently needed in their registered disciplines. 

I am interested in the measurement / sensing/ testing challenges in this area. It is important that we ensure that the data produced by new measurement systems of all kinds can be used with confidence in decision making and will be reliably available. This is not easy, especially when working under pressure.  I chair the UK Sensing Innovation Leadership Council which is championing collaboration between five UK Centres with specialist expertise in sensing to facilitate the sensing innovation lifecycle to deliver just this confidence and security of supply.  We were discussing this week how best to gather the requirements and engage positively without getting in the way of the teams working hard on this issue.  If you could facilitate that Jeremy, it would be much appreciated.


ps. We also have the IET hosted International Measurement Community to provide a greater reach in the search for solutions if needed.

Ian MacGillivray:

... focusing on the Ventilators challenge...

• A managed, open-source styled, design authority.

There are a number of open source initiatives, all with worthy aims, but I'm not sure how you would recognise one or the other as a design authority?
https://opensourceventilator.ie
https://opensource.com/article/20/3/open-hardware-covid19

Ian MacGillivray:

...

• Coordinated information on manufacture, logistics, assembly, testing, shipping, support, recycling

I think this is what's missing, certainly I can't find it easily using Google searches.
Even a simple list of components required mapped to the skills/facilities required and the companies authorised to assemble them would be a good start.

In the short term, focusing on the Ventilators challenge, the common thread among most of the responses so far is about making the right information available to the widest range of relevant, supply-chain audiences in an intelligent way, in order to promote valuable action rather than sustain uncertainty.  This feels right, and something which intelligent digitalisation might accelerate.  For example:

• A managed, open-source styled, design authority.

• Coordinated information on manufacture, logistics, assembly, testing, shipping, support, recycling?

• Is blockchain technology too challenging in the required timeframes, or can it build confidence rapidly (for this and future manufacturing effort)?

Longer term, it is presumably too early to predict what the impact of COVID-19 will be, which will only become clearer once we can gauge steady state responses across the population as we strive to return to 'normal' economic activity.  In this context, engineering seems well placed to contribute to mapping out how the systems and enterprise architecture of modern life can or will need to adjust if responding to infections needs to be sustained far into the future, with containment permanently in mind.  Relevant topics might include:

• Transportation

• Testing

• Localised community response equipment and procedures

• Social distancing 'monitoring' - at a simple level perhaps around occupancy density in buildings.

• A proportion of office and retail space migrating to environmentally-aware 'living' space.

• Cleaner, lower-cost transportation solutions that capitalise on the reduced demand for commute journeys that the current encouraged / enforced remote working might signpost.

• The often touted, widespread, data connectivity.

Manufacturing companies with rapid prototyping and 3D printing capabilities will be able to make parts for ventilators. All they will need is a compatible 3D cad file of the components needed. The key to releasing the manufacturing potential to to release the design data electronically.


The next step is to coordinate suppliers and the supply chain to assembly facilities. As I am also a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, I know they are directly coordinating help for critical supply chains by way of volunteers, including retired members, so they could be enlisted to do that part.


The final step is to identify the assembly facilities, these will be companies making low to medium volume small products (similar size, with agile production facilities - so not the likes of JCB

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-immunity-test-090033681.html

 

UK ‘very close to breakthrough coronavirus immunity test’

The UK is “very close” to developing an antibodies test that will determine whether someone has had coronavirus and is now immune, according to a former government adviser.

Professor Sir Mark Walport said that the test, that would show whether someone has already had the virus and is able to safely interact with those who are infected, “has been validated’.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston show on Wednesday, Prof Walport said: “This may seem slow now but compared to the rate at which you have been able to develop a test like this for a few years, this is going at the speed at light.