Institutions offer vital equipment, training and accommodation during pandemic but one complains about slow uptake
Welsh universities are stepping up to help the NHS during the coronavirus crisis, with offers of vital equipment, training and accommodation.
The news comes as some scientists have expressed frustration over the slow uptake of their offers to help with testing for Covid-19.
Amid concerns over shortages in the NHS, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University, Bangor University and the University of South Wales have all donated personal protective equipment for use by frontline staff, Universities Wales announced on 2 April.
Swansea is also using its 3D printing facilities to produce ventilator parts and has freed up its on-campus clinical skills training suite and clinical skills lab at Morriston Hospital for NHS use.
While Cardiff Metropolitan University has loaned two Thermo Fisher 7500 ABI Fast platform machines to help with Covid-19 testing.
Over at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, staff from the allied health courses are providing urgent training to NHS staff in clinical respiratory care. Cardiff University is also providing training to staff who have been drafted back into the health service.
Also at Cardiff University, staff are working to map the spread of Covid-19 as part of a new genome sequencing consortium. Together with Cardiff Metropolitan University, the institutions’ psychology departments are examining the impact of the epidemic on people.
In addition, graduate entry medicine students at Swansea University are offering emergency childcare for NHS staff. NHS staff are also being offered accommodation at some of Aberystwyth University’s residences, as well as at Bangor University, and Wrexham Glyndŵr University.
But some scientists at Cardiff University have expressed their frustration after offering help with testing that they say was not taken up for weeks.
“It’s been deeply frustrating. We flagged up what was available about three weeks ago,” Andrew Godkin, head of school of medicine at the university told the BBC on 4 April. “We certainly have the capacity here and in Cardiff University to really offer… a considerable number of tests.”
“It’s important that we do look at that,” Frank Atherton, chief medical officer for Wales told BBC’s BH Live programme on 5 April. “We are very happy to work with universities.”
He added: “On the testing front, Wales does have a consortium, including the universities, looking to boost our testing capacity. Over the last week or two, we have been increasing that and we continue to do that.”
“Of course it’s not just about the machines, we have to think about the whole process, the end-to-end process, and so getting the swabs into the laboratories, making sure we have biosecurity, making sure that the data flows from the laboratories’ work effectively, so all of that needs working through, and we are very happy to work with the university on those issues.”