Twenty of Althea’s specialist biomed engineers have played a vital role at the newly-opened NHS Nightingale Hospital in London, building, testing and commissioning thousands of pieces of life-saving equipment.
Over the last seven days, the Althea team has joined the national unprecedented response to COVID-19, with onsite engineers working to unpack, build, set up, test, and service over 1,000 medical devices.
In just nine days the ExCeL exhibition centre in London's Docklands - usually used for large public events - has been transformed into an emergency 4000-bed hospital to cope with patients affected by COVID-19.
Althea’s engineers started on site on 30 March, with some of the team staying away from family so they could assist with the project and others travelling many hours each day to help.
The action comes after the company was awarded the contract to be the dedicated on-site biomed managed equipment support service.
This work included setting up the bed spaces with all the necessary equipment, which was also commissioned by Althea.
Going forward, Althea will be onsite to offer full management support of all medical devices as clinicians care for patients during the global pandemic.
“The response from our engineers during this unprecedented time as been incredible and we are so very proud of everyone involved,” said David Rolfe, chief executive at Althea.
“The team has been really responsive to a fast-moving situation, and everyone has worked well beyond their contracted hours, spending time away from their families to help make sure the hospital is ready and functional.”
The team has been really responsive to a fast-moving situation, and everyone has worked well beyond their contracted hours, spending time away from their families to help make sure the hospital is ready and functional
He added: “There is no doubt that the hospital will make a huge difference to the capacity in London and help the NHS as it handles the surge in COVID-19 patients expected over the coming weeks.
“At this critical time, everyone involved should be incredibly proud of what Althea is doing onsite, but also what the wider Althea team is doing to support many NHS hospitals and clinicians across the country.”
Althea bosses are now engaging with the NHS to help at other Nightingale hospital sites being planned across the country.
