After just 33 days, Dstl and DASA finish rapid coronavirus support work after hundreds of responses of industry were received after an appeal was sent out to help with ambulance sanitizing solutions.
Following the trials of technology that could cut sanitization times of ambulances, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has tested 12 methods that help decrease the time it takes to decontaminate ambulances in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the reductions in times have gone from one hour to 10 minutes which means more lives can be saved.
DASA received more than 200 ideas in only one week after they appealed to various industries to come up with time-saving ways to sanitize ambulances. This appeal was sent out on behalf of Welsh Government, the Welsh Ambulance Service, Innovate UK and The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Centre of Excellence.
Gabriella Cox, DASA security competition lead, said:
“This has been a huge effort from everyone involved. The response by industry was remarkable and there has been a monumental effort by staff from DASA, Dstl and our partners to be able to complete this project in just 33 days.
“Innovation has never been more important as we play our part in the national effort against Coronavirus.”
Dstl scientist Steve Mitchell, who led the trials, said:
“The trials have shown some really promising ideas ranging from fogging techniques, sprays, and using a decontaminant vapour to give a thorough and deep clean in the quickest time possible.
“This has been a big challenge for everyone involved to turn this work around in such rapid time with the possibility of one of the solutions being taken forward by the Welsh Ambulance Service in the next week or so.”
The solutions will hopefully be used by other emergency service sectors as well as public transport.
Successful solutions might be implemented across the organisation after The Welsh Ambulance Trust consider the results from the trials.
Article source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-scientists-trial-innovation-to-slash-ambulance-cleaning-time
Tracy is an Editor and Marketing Director who helps healthcare professionals and technology companies work together to digitise the UK healthcare system. After many years of helping award winning technology companies bring their innovations to the UK market she launched the Health Tech Digital resource platform which keeps healthcare professionals up to date with industry news and technology solutions for their establishments. Tracy is also the Marketing Director of Reborn Marketing Ltd and has worked with both private and public sectors focusing on technology in the UK for the past 7 years. If you have news you would like to share or would like to get in touch regarding your healthcare technology solution you can reach Tracy at tracy.williams@healthtechdigital.com.
