UK – Advent Covid19

Category: UK

Rubix helps fast-track ventilator production and distributes protective gear Europe-wide

Leading industrial distribution company works through the night to create critical components solution in just 24 hours.

4,000

Medical visors produced for the NHS each day

Rubix was called upon to lend its expertise to support the government’s fast-track effort to manufacture ventilators in the UK. Precision engineering business Naysmyth Group sought Rubix’s help to find a solution that could create critical components in just 24 hours. Rubix met the deadline, manufacturing bespoke cutting-tool inserts through the night.

As an industrial distribution business with a pan-European footprint, Rubix is also ideally placed to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of its international operations have been helping their communities obtain much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE). In one example, Rubix France has arranged for its branches to donate face masks to local pharmacies, nursing homes and clinics.

Rubix Iberia has been donating face masks, gloves, coveralls and safety glasses to hospitals near its PPE warehouses in Bilbao and Girona, northern Spain. Its fabric workshop in La Rioja has also donated textiles for use in making protective gowns for hospitals in the area.

In the United Kingdom, Rubix UK has created “grab bags” of essential PPE that colleagues can give to friends or relatives who work for the National Health Service. Meanwhile, the Rubix team at the Royal Mint has helped to source components for around 4,000 medical visors being produced for the NHS each day.

Rubix Benelux has provided thousands of protective masks to care institutions that have indicated a need for them, through its branches in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Rubix is Europe’s largest supplier of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services. Headquartered in London, the company has a presence in more than 750 locations across 22 countries.

Cobham technology opens new fronts in the fight against Covid-19

British aerospace company Cobham, a part of the Advent community, is heavily committed to the global fight against Covid-19.

1,000

Manufacturing capacity for ventilator regulator units per day

Cobham has been able to redeploy its aerospace expertise to successfully modify the hardware used for oxygen systems in military aircraft to create an air pressure regulator.

This regulator can be used in a ventilator system to precisely control the flow of oxygen to the patient. Working with a UK-based consortium – and subject to regulatory approval – Cobham has the capacity to manufacture up to 1,000 of these regulator units each day, helping to alleviate the current shortage of ventilators in UK hospitals.

In addition, Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions has announced increased requests for specialized circuits technology which can be used in the rapid analysis of coronavirus samples and in helping to diagnose and treat coronavirus patients within hospital wards and intensive care units.

The Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) produced by Cobham are proving vital in uncovering the secrets of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. These circuits are an essential component in the devices being used to discover the genomic sequence of the virus, producing important insights into how it is transmitted and the ways in which it can evolve over time.

ASICs are also used by a leading provider of computed tomography (CT) scanners, which are relied upon in hospitals across the world to help with the diagnosis of respiratory conditions. The company has recently noted an increase of almost a third in the demand for its medical ASIC products.

Cobham is global leader in defence, space and aerospace technology, headquartered in the United Kingdom.

London focuses on six charities providing Covid-19 relief

Like all Advent’s operations across the world, the London team was tasked with selecting organizations focused on Covid-19 relief in their local community.

2,000

Big Issue vendors supported through the crisis

Efforts were concentrated on seven areas in the UK: domestic abuse, elderly care, financial security, homelessness, mental health, coronavirus crisis funds and healthcare.

After carrying out a detailed review of the charity landscape, six UK charities helping those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic were selected to receive financial aid: Action for Children, The Big Issue, Frontline19, Helpforce, Refuge and The Wellcome Trust.

Action for Children supports vulnerable children, young people and families across the country, providing online guidance, mental-health support, fostering and adoption services, and residential care. Funds will be used to ramp up helpline services during the pandemic and provide much-needed emergency grants for necessities such as food, nappies and household supplies.

By offering the chance to sell the magazine of the same name, The Big Issue helps homeless people get back on their feet and achieve self-sufficiency. Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, the charity has provided extra financial and emotional support for its network of over 2,000 vendors, keeping them warm and well-fed, and helping them with access to welfare services.

Frontline19 was set up by experienced psychotherapists as a direct response to the pandemic. Its mission is to provide mental-health and emotional wellbeing support for those on the frontline of the emergency – including healthcare workers coping with long hours in extremely stressful conditions.

Helpforce is a new social movement that uses the power of volunteering to improve the health and wellbeing of people across the UK. It aims to inspire communities, individuals and other organisations to get involved with the nation’s health through volunteering, outreach and advocacy. At this time of severely constrained healthcare capacity, the charity is helping to ease pressure on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) by providing volunteers to fulfil back-office functions and support both staff and patients with essential practical support.

Since the outbreak began, Refuge has seen a spike in calls to its 24-hour domestic-abuse helpline. The organization also runs a digital platform where those suffering abuse can contact expert counselors, and has 46 of its own refuges across the country. With the period of heightened demand expected to continue, the charity has launched a specific Covid-19 appeal to keep its services running.

As a world-leading healthcare and research organization, the Wellcome Trust is coordinating Covid-Zero, a coalition of businesses and philanthropic organizations who are raising funds for research and development into new vaccines, treatments and tests to support an exit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The London initiatives are funded from the Advent Global Relief Fund and are part of our global commitment to help all those engaged in the fight against Covid-19 and its effects.