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The response to COVID-19 from Swansea University Medical School
In the year it celebrates its centenary, Swansea University has drawn upon 100 years of innovation and collaboration to contribute to the COVID-19 response. And nowhere has this been more apparent than at the University’s Medical School.
Professor Keith Lloyd, head of the Medical school, said: “I am very proud of the way our staff, students and our partners have been working together so successfully to support healthcare and our communities. They really are making a difference.”
One example of this effort is the hand sanitiser currently being produced at a rate of 5,000 litres a week by the University for use by the NHS locally. A team of volunteers from three different University Colleges and Schools are involved in its manufacture and the project is one of many initiatives born from the South Wales Additive and Rapid Manufacturing (SWARM) Consortium, set up to unite and mobilise local organisations to support the NHS.
In addition, staff from the Medical School were key members of the team behind ground-breaking new ventilator, the CoronaVent-One. This can be built quickly from local parts and used even for patients with severe coronavirus. Until now, ventilator designs could either be one or the other, but not both. Professor Lloyd said that although coronavirus infections rates are currently stabilising, it was essential to stockpile ventilators ready for patients affected by future pandemic virus infections.
Some of those patients may very well receive treatment from new doctors who studied at the Medical School. Members of the 2020 final year cohort signed up for NHS roles as soon as the General Medical Council offered early provisional registration to those who wanted to begin duties.
When they were expecting to be preparing for graduation, the were already working as interim Foundation Y1 doctors. Among them was Alex Ruddy who said: “This is our calling, and although it arrived at an unexpected and unpredictable time, we were not going to ignore it.”
However, they were not the only medical students who offered practical support. One group of newer students were determined to put their training to good use. Eight students set up Swansea GEM Relief Childcare, which sees medical and physician associate students providing free emergency childcare for local NHS staff during the pandemic. Within weeks of its launch, the scheme had close to 100 student volunteers, all DBS checked and trained in paediatric basic life support, caring for children of frontline staff.
Meanwhile the Medical School was able to capitalise on its unique connection to Wuhan in China, bringing together health experts from across Wales with some of the first medics to tackle coronavirus. The University played a key role in organising a video conference between representatives from Welsh health boards and senior doctors at Wuhan Union Hospital. The Chinese hospital is home to a joint medical centre, opened two years ago following a long-standing and successful collaboration between the University and the hospital.
Working together and sharing expertise, whether it is with colleagues thousands of miles away or closer to home, has been at the heart of the University’s response to the pandemic.
This was demonstrated by the successful Celebrating Medical Innovation webinar, which brought together not only academics but also businesses, organisations and health professionals for a forum highlighting how collaboration has been having an impact.
Professor Lloyd added: “The event was the perfect showcase for work across the University during this unprecedented time. COVID-19 has presented challenges we have never faced before but without doubt we have been able to rise to those challenges in a remarkable way.”
