Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen is convening a meeting of all five Council Leaders in the Tees Valley, along with their Chief Executives, to co-ordinate a joined-up response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
As part of the local response to the national emergency it’s essential local councils and the Local Resilience Forum step up to the mark as the responsible bodies.
Mayor Houchen has also called upon manufacturing companies across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to see what manufacturing capability they could use as part of the national effort to make medical ventilators and other critical medical equipment.
Mayor Houchen is already exploring with Government using the Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park (TeesAMP) in Middlesbrough for the manufacturing of ventilators or other urgently needed medical equipment as part of the nationwide response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The announcement comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock called upon manufacturers with the capability to make medical ventilators to consider switching production to the life saving devices as part of a national effort to ensure enough ventilators are available.
If companies cannot switch production or do not have the right capabilities, but still want to do their bit to support the manufacturing effort, Mayor Houchen has asked companies to consider offering staff to other manufacturers so that they can assist with production.
So that the NHS can increase bed capacity, Mayor Houchen has offered the use of the hotel at Teesside International Airport as a possible location as a temporary medical facility and is not ruling out the takeover of other local hotels.
Commenting Mayor Houchen said: “Over the last 72 hours I have had numerous calls with ministers and officials to discuss how we can best respond to the challenge we face and support the critical work that is being done by our NHS.
“It is absolutely essential that in this time of national emergency we all pull together and do our part and that the local councils and the Local Resilience Forum step up to the mark as the responsible bodies. I’m concerned that we aren’t as prepared as we should be and getting everyone together to work through our plans will be essential to help local people get through what will be a very difficult time.
“More information will be provided as soon as we get it, but in the meantime, I would ask that everyone looks after each other. Please provide support or help to friends and neighbours who may be less able than ourselves.
“Also, there are a number of manufacturers across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool that could play a crucial role in the national response to this unprecedented situation by manufacturing medial ventilators and other critical equipment needed as part of the Coronavirus response.
“I am already working with TeesAMP in Middlesbrough which has 180,000 sq ft of space available to see how it can best be used, these advanced manufacturing units have recently been completed, they’re powered up and ready to go.
“I have spoken to the Government and made as much capacity as possible at TeesAMP available for the vital, and life save job of manufacturing critical equipment.
“We should be very clear with the public that things are going to get worse before they get better. Preparing now and following expert advice through the NHS, 111 service and Government advice will put us in a better position in the coming weeks and months.”
Any manufacturing company wanting to be involved with the production of medical ventilators and other critical medical equipment should contact the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Business Support helpline on 0300 456 3565.
If you need help accessing information on Government schemes to assist you or would like to volunteer to offer other forms of help, please email [email protected]
