LOCKDOWN LEADER: Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is manufacturing thousands of medical visors for use by frontline NHS staff in the war against COVID-19. A prototype was created in 48 hours, and the aim is to produce 4,000 units a day.
"We have received requests from NHS trusts and hospitals across the country since we announced yesterday,” said a spokeswoman. "We have increased production as a result to help as many as possible." The organisation is currently working round the clock, seven days a week at their HQ in Llantrisant, south Wales. It also has plans to post the exact specifications for its design online so that other engineers can copy it.
The first batch of visors are already in use at the nearby Royal Glamorgan Hospital, where staff are “really grateful,” said the hospital’s clinical director for anaesthetics, Huw Davies. "It was actually quite emotional for our teams when they came in and offered their support and expertise to us to help keep us safe. It is a great example of collaboration and a real goodwill gesture from their team."
Royal Mint engineers produced the units after an online search to see what medical equipment they could create simply at their base. They then worked with their UK supply chain to source the materials. Said the Royal Mint’s director of operations, Leighton John, “On Wednesday at 9am we knew nothing about medical visors, but we set our engineers the task of developing essential medical equipment which could be easily made on site – within seven hours they’d created a medical visor, and within 48 hours it was approved for mass manufacture.” He added, “My sister works for the NHS and it really focuses your mind on the challenges they are facing, and the opportunity we have to support them.”