First of several hundred vital NHS ventilators delivered to Crawley firm

Two Crawley firms have been working together to supply hundreds of ventilators to the NHS.
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Neil Campbell, CEO of Inspiration Healthcare Group (IHG), said the company received the first of several hundred ventilators to be supplied to the NHS yesterday evening (April 30).

The shipment was delivered to global tech company Thales, which offered its warehouse space in Crawley.

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IHG, a critical care company, has also expanded its 24/7 ventilator hotline to cover all the units provided by the Ventilator Challenge initiative – allowing healthcare workers to troubleshoot problems with equipment, according to Neil.

The first delivery of ventilators has arrivedThe first delivery of ventilators has arrived
The first delivery of ventilators has arrived

He said the initiative had been beneficial in allowing the firm to get to know its neighbours.

Neil, whose firm has its head office in Crawley, added: “Being neighbours and helping each other is a fantastic opportunity.”

Raymond Li, Head of Air Strategy and Marketing, Thales UK said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to work with Neil Campbell and his team at Inspiration Healthcare to ensure that high quality, lifesaving ventilators are made available to the NHS frontline.”

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Thales, which has a key engineering site in Crawley, provides training to pilots and tank drivers but has now turned its hand to training healthcare workers in using ventilators.

Despite being faced with the challenge of providing remote training, Thales assembled a team of staff who worked 40 days straight, seven days a week.

Director of engineering for avionics in the UK, Victoria Howells said: “The team has been working really intensively.

“The whole team has really put down everything they’re doing.”

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Victoria said bosses gave her the go ahead to choose her ‘A team’ of employees to work on the project.

She added: “The pace has been extraordinary.

“It’s not unusual to be having meetings at 7am on a Sunday morning.”

Victoria said the firm is used to working in a highly regulated environment.

She added: “We really just wanted to help in any way we could.”

Victoria said she was ‘phenomenally proud’.

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She added: “It’s hard to put into words how impressed I have been.

Companies who would naturally be competitors or never normally meet are coming together for a common goal, according to Victoria.

She said: “We’re sharing lessons learnt and best practice and genuinely helping each other.”

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