6Foot2 Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Link: Coronavirus: Mercedes F1 to make breathing aid [bBC News] A breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in under a week. University College London engineers worked with clinicians at UCLH and Mercedes Formula One to build the device, which delivers oxygen to the lungs without needing a ventilator. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices are already used in hospitals but are in short supply. China and Italy used them to help Covid-19 patients. Forty of the new devices have been delivered to ULCH and to three other London hospitals. If trials go well, up to 1,000 of the CPAP machines can be produced per day by Mercedes-AMG-HPP, beginning in a week's time. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has already given its approval for their use. Ventilator consortium Meanwhile a consortium of UK industrial, technology and engineering business in the UK have come together to produce medical ventilators for the NHS. The "VentilatorChallengeUK" consortium includes Airbus, BAE Systems, Ford, Rolls-Royce and Siemens. Companies in the consortium have received orders for more than 10,000 ventilators from the government, although MHRA approval is still pending. Production is due to begin next week. Dick Elsy, chief executive of High Value Manufacturing Catapult, said: "This consortium brings together some of the most innovative companies in the world. "They are working together with incredible determination and energy to scale up production of much-needed ventilators and combat a virus that is affecting people in many countries." Rapid response Professor Rebecca Shipley, Director of UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, told the BBC: "Normally medical device development would take years but we've done that in days because we went back to a simple existing device and "reverse engineered" it in order to be able to produce them quickly and at scale." Reverse engineering means they took apart an existing off-patent CPAP device, copied and improved the design and adapted it for mass production...
hardtailstar Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I've been working at home since last Wednesday and did my washing yesterday, I noticed a few things. The load was smaller than a normal week one load (normally two loads) as I have just been wearing the same clothes all day and I haven't worn socks since Wednesday..... So saving electricity and clothes life
StevieM Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I have just been wearing the same clothes all day what I slept in and I haven't worn socks clothes since Wednesday..... FTFY! It's funny as, last week, I was going to post that I've never done so much laundry in such a short space of time. Having an east/west aligned house (i.e. little to no sun from mid-October to mid-March) with no central heating, getting my washing dry can take a very long time. I made the most of last week's combination of working (mostly) from home and good weather to catch up the backlog. I must have done at least 6 (if not 7 or 8!) loads in the space of a few days. It felt like my poor washing machine was screaming at me to stop, while I was like a man possessed - 'MORE!! MUST WASH ALL THE THINGS!!!' I even came close to stripping the covers of the sofa! 1
jthompson Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Link: Coronavirus: Mercedes F1 to make breathing aid [bBC News] I did think when the races started being cancelled that the F1 teams could fairly easily trot out some ventilator equipment from their factories. Perhaps not in massive quantities, but they've certainly got plenty of expertise and resources and to be able to make a quick turnaround. They're well set up to work against severe time pressure.
CHiLL Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I did think when the races started being cancelled that the F1 teams could fairly easily trot out some ventilator equipment from their factories. Perhaps not in massive quantities, but they've certainly got plenty of expertise and resources and to be able to make a quick turnaround. They're well set up to work against severe time pressure. Yeah, especially a team like Williams, who manufacture all their own parts, so are extremely well set up for that process. I did hear that teams were doing this at the start of this whole thing but it kind of went silent. It makes sense for these mutli-million pound state of the art manufacturing facilities to be put to use during the off season.
ICTDirect_Dave Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Yeah it's taken them a couple of weeks to go from design and prototyping to actual fabrication. Each team will need a sign off from the overseeing body for such medical devices and then they'll be able to ramp production up, raw materials permitting.
StevieM Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I did think when the races started being cancelled that the F1 teams could fairly easily trot out some ventilator equipment from their factories. Perhaps not in massive quantities, but they've certainly got plenty of expertise and resources and to be able to make a quick turnaround. They're well set up to work against severe time pressure. Now we just need to get the pit-stop crews into the hospitals! Patient gets wheeled in on a trolley. 20 crew members buzz around for 10 seconds. Ventilator fully-fitted and working and the patient is raced off to the ward. 2
gypo Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Have any of you been asked / told to take your remaining holiday entitlement over the next few months? Basically our holidays run Sep-Sep and I have 16 days left, had an email asking me to take them before August and was quoted our contractual obligations about using holiday entitlement etc. I've emailed HR quoting the amended working time regulation which allows an employee to carry holidays over for 2 years. 3
Ditto Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Have any of you been asked / told to take your remaining holiday entitlement over the next few months? Basically our holidays run Sep-Sep and I have 16 days left, had an email asking me to take them before August and was quoted our contractual obligations about using holiday entitlement etc. I've emailed HR quoting the amended working time regulation which allows an employee to carry holidays over for 2 years. Yes! i started in Jan and was asked to take the holiday by end of March. Negotiated a carry over as I couldn't take due to medical issues and then couldn't take planned holiday in April as it was cancelled. Have now been told to take by end of May on a use it or lose it basis. As I'm in probation period I guess best not to rock the boat, but do you have the link re-working time as it seems too good to be true!
Theblacksheep Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Yes! i started in Jan and was asked to take the holiday by end of March. Negotiated a carry over as I couldn't take due to medical issues and then couldn't take planned holiday in April as it was cancelled. Have now been told to take by end of May on a use it or lose it basis. As I'm in probation period I guess best not to rock the boat, but do you have the link re-working time as it seems too good to be true! Working Time Directive Change 2
Seb1780 Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I've emailed HR quoting the amended working time regulation which allows an employee to carry holidays over for 2 years. ...... it seems too good to be true! I think, for most of us, it is! My wife's in a similar predicament, she has to take holiday that she has booked, regardless of whether we can actually go on holiday or not. I looked at this amendment. My reading of it is that this is there to protect those who *have* to work rather than those who *choose* to work - i.e. if you are a key-worker and have your holidays cancelled (or you cannot book any time off) then at the end of the holiday year you can carry forward some to the following years. Also, the press release reads like it applies only to the statutory minimum number of days (20), so once you have taken that then all other days are lost. 1
6Foot2 Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Whoops! Hope that 'advce' doesn't include English! [This Morning]
kennysarmy Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Have any of you been asked / told to take your remaining holiday entitlement over the next few months? Basically our holidays run Sep-Sep and I have 16 days left, had an email asking me to take them before August and was quoted our contractual obligations about using holiday entitlement etc. I've emailed HR quoting the amended working time regulation which allows an employee to carry holidays over for 2 years. Geez, some of you work for some right schools and trusts. I'd like to think under the current climate, emailing me demanding me to take holiday would be the least of anyone's concerns and I'd also hope if it came to it someone would ring me up rather than email me. Thankfully I work for a great organisation with give and take and can't see it being any problem to take holiday later in the year (I've had cancelled one break to Portugal and a week's trip to Scotland recently cancelled) so I'm going to be awash with leave in the summer....
RLR Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 We're being asked to take 4 days mandatory holiday (Easter weeks). I don't mind since I've still got 18 days to take before September.
smurfomatic Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 I have two weeks booked to take over Easter - next week and the week after. I don't have a problem with that, as the school is completely closed there's no point "working from home" during that time. I will still be monitoring emails, just in case something needs responding to urgently.
localzuk Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 For those looking at holiday time stuff - this law firm seems to have a nice explanation of it all https://www.elpamsolicitors.co.uk/holiday-leave-use-it-or-lose-it/ Basically, it seems to be that they can direct you to take holiday time, and they can operate on a use it or lose it basis. 1
kennysarmy Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 I have two weeks booked to take over Easter - next week and the week after. I don't have a problem with that, as the school is completely closed there's no point "working from home" during that time. I will still be monitoring emails, just in case something needs responding to urgently. I thought schools were staying open over Easter to continue to offer childminding services to front line key workers?
6Foot2 Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 Link: [Olaf Falafel Video Tweet] When your grandkids ask you about 2020 Click the link above for the video. 1
localzuk Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 I thought schools were staying open over Easter to continue to offer childminding services to front line key workers? They should be, yeah. Ours are. We're even double checking about the bank holidays, and have scheduled people in on those days too just in case.
elsiegee40 Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 I thought schools were staying open over Easter to continue to offer childminding services to front line key workers? They are, but that doesn’t mean staff can’t take annual leave even if they can’t travel anywhere. AL is as necessary for mental health as ensuring you don’t work at weekends and in the evenings. People are going to have to be very careful to separate work time and downtime now. 1
Disease Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 We are being mandated to take 4 days next week so we can have a complete close-down for a week, then it's back to the rota the week after.
localzuk Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 We are being mandated to take 4 days next week so we can have a complete close-down for a week, then it's back to the rota the week after. Who will look after the key workers' children during those days?
localzuk Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 One thing I've noticed in my home office - my lighting is not up to scratch for working with. Normal LED bulbs only seem to provide about 800 lumens of light, same as a 60W bulb. Nowhere near bright enough to stay engaged in front of a computer all day. Might be worth taking a look at your own lighting too, if you've been feeling sluggish/sleepy after a relatively short period sat in front of your computer, not to mention eyestrain. Just ordered some better lighting for myself, but in the meantime I've added an extra lamp to bring the brightness up a bit. 3
smurfomatic Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 I thought schools were staying open over Easter to continue to offer childminding services to front line key workers? We have confirmed that we don't have any key worker children to look after, so the site has been closed down except for resident staff (independent prep school with boarding) and people who need to briefly visit the school for tasks like collecting paperwork to work from home.
the_quick Posted March 31, 2020 Posted March 31, 2020 Our school HT is asking for volunteers to work during Easter break and plan is to do bit more fun activities for the kids of key workers. I work usually during holidays, so I reckon I will be in some days. School is collecting information how many kids we are expecting. On a different matter, canceled hols and flights: My parking at airport parking offers free cancelation and refund , but in vouchers I have to use with them. OK, fair enough I guess car park is still open and I can use it if I really want to. Easyjet - cancelled flight because of Covid again refund given in EasyJet vouchers - not really happy with that - I would prefer refund to my card directly please
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now