UK Doctor creates Portable Isolation Dome for Covid-19 Sufferers in just Eight Days

A LEADING Liverpool doctor working with a specialist manufacturing company from Cheshire has created a new device which further shields healthcare staff from risks of Covid-19 infection.

Dr Neil Sahgal, a consultant anaesthetist at Aintree University Hospital, worked with ONFAB, a specialist containment manufacturing company in Middlewich, to create a pop-up Patient Airway Isolation Dome.

The first dome came off of the ONFAB production line just eight days after Dr Sahgal met with the company’s team to discuss the idea and the dome is believed to be the first device of its kind to be commercially available in the UK.

The portable, see-through dome provides access for up to three healthcare workers, enabling them to insert breathing tubes into a patient’s throat while protecting themselves from the spray of infectious respiratory droplets which often occurs.

This procedure, called intubation, is one of the highest risk situations for healthcare staff caring for patients who have Covid-19.

The hospital received an initial batch of 30 domes, and successful use with patients led to ONFAB receiving queries from other hospitals so that the company has now begun wider commercial production of the devices.