Photo credit: www.bbc.com
Michael Gove recently addressed the Covid inquiry, arguing that it was “ridiculous” to claim he attempted to rush through a deal with Dyson for a new ventilator without appropriate safety evaluations.
Internal communications revealed that a senior official from the health regulatory body expressed concerns that Gove was looking to “sidestep the regulatory process” back in March 2020. There were messages indicating that Gove did not fully understand the risks involved and was pursuing an “unrealistic” timeline.
Although an initial order for 10,000 ventilators was made, the contract was ultimately canceled after Dyson could not secure the necessary regulatory approval. Importantly, no public funds were spent on the prototype, with Dyson reporting a loss of around £20 million in research and development expenses related to the initiative.
Ventilator Challenge
In March 2020, as the pandemic surged in northern Italy, health authorities urgently sought additional ventilators to assist patients experiencing respiratory failure. The National Health Service (NHS) had between 6,000 and 8,000 ventilators in stock but required 30,000 by June and as many as 90,000 by November according to pandemic projections.
To tackle this issue, the government initiated the ‘Ventilator Challenge’ on March 16, 2020. This program aimed to mobilize domestic suppliers in the UK to create new ventilators or adapt existing models, significantly speeding up the usual approval timeline, which typically takes 18 to 24 months.
The initiative was coordinated by officials from the Cabinet Office and involved the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which helped establish initial specifications. Notable participants included major companies such as Ford, McLaren, and Dyson.
During this period, Sir James Dyson was in frequent contact with government representatives, including then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Evidence presented at the inquiry included WhatsApp messages indicating that Dyson was anxious about the rapid pace of development associated with the project.
On March 20, Boris Johnson noted that “Dyson [was] freaking” out about the process, urging immediate action. Within the same communication thread, ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock stated he would coordinate with Dyson and Michael Gove to resolve the situation.
In response to questions about the proposed contract for Dyson, Sir Gareth Rhys Williams, the government’s former chief commercial officer, indicated that this was the only instance during the pandemic where he was directed to execute a contract contrary to commercial guidance.
On March 25, Boris Johnson sent another WhatsApp message to his team claiming that “Dyson has a ventilator ready to go… It’s safe, effective and loses less oxygen,” challenging the concerns raised by officials, particularly those voiced by Rhys Williams, whom he accused of “fiddling while Rome burns.”
‘Totally unrealistic’
Sir Gareth noted that at that time, the design of the Dyson prototype involved pushing air directly from a fan into patients’ lungs, raising significant safety issues. Afterward, the Dyson team addressed this design flaw.
In further communications on the same day, Sir Gareth informed top civil service official Sir John Manzoni that Gove was “INSISTENT we place an order with Dyson”, contingent upon passing clinical and regulatory approvals.
A preliminary order for £100,000 worth of Dyson prototypes was subsequently placed, with an email from Gove’s office listing urgent actions needed, including that “the MHRA and Sir Gareth Rhys Williams ensure by the end of Friday, [that] the Dyson product has been tested and approved by MHRA… [and] the final product has started to be manufactured.”
The following day, Graeme Tunbridge, a director at the MHRA, expressed concerns to colleagues that Gove was eager to advance Dyson’s proposal on a timeline regarded as “totally unrealistic”. He commented that Gove “did not appreciate the level of risk involved in the manufacture and use of ventilators” and sought to bypass the expedited regulatory framework established for patient safety.
In his testimony, Gove denied any attempts to pressure the MHRA, asserting that the focus on Dyson did not detract from resources available to other companies. He characterized the notion that a minister would create an opportunity for a potentially unsafe device in hospitals as “inconceivable.” Gove acknowledged that the Dyson prototype did not pass testing and maintained that he would always prioritize safety when faced with factual findings.
He clarified that his office’s language in communications with the MHRA was merely shorthand intended to express a hope for timely testing and approval, rather than an attempt to dictate outcomes.
Ultimately, the Ventilator Challenge resulted in the scaling up of existing models and the approval of a new design from the medical devices company, Penlon. Over three months, 14,000 additional devices were delivered, a figure lower than initially anticipated as clinicians adapted their approaches to treating critical Covid cases.
Dyson later stated that Sir James Dyson responded to a personal request from Boris Johnson to “develop and make a medical-grade ventilator in 30 days during the national emergency.” The company emphasized that rather than gaining financially, it incurred substantial costs and redeployed 450 engineers to this effort, without seeking compensation for the £20 million invested in the initiative, which was framed as part of the national effort to save lives.
Source
www.bbc.com