Smiths Medical helped support the increased demand for medical products and devices across the world

Smiths Medical has joined several of the world’s ventilator manufacturers in the Ventilator Training Alliance (VTA) which supports frontline medical providers by providing access to a centralised repository of ventilator training via a free mobile app. It includes how-to videos, manuals and troubleshooting guides critical to treating patients suffering from COVID-19 related respiratory distress.

Powered by Allego, the VTA app connects respiratory therapists, nurses and other medical professionals with ventilator training resources from alliance member companies.

To date, more than 50,000 users have downloaded the app in over 167 countries.

The Smiths Medical COVID-19 SWAT team was formed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate and drive an accelerated response to customer needs and demand for medical products and devices including ventilators across the world. The team met daily with Smiths Medical CEO, JehanZeb Noor, to share information and discuss priorities, and were empowered to execute decisions on all aspects of the response, including strategy, resourcing and investment, supply and building external partnerships.

Weekly leadership meetings were held with the SWAT team to monitor the spread of the pandemic and align the global team on strategy and messaging. Cross-functional teams were supported to respond operationally to changes in demand and prepare forward plans. The SWAT team co-ordinated efforts to enlist new suppliers and facilitated capital investment at locations across the Smiths Medical network to support increased output. They also set up a workstream to deliver online and interactive customer training materials for ventilator use.

The SWAT team played a role in securing an order for 78.6 million syringes to support the US Government’s vaccination plans and in the UK Ventilator Challenge consortium.