Hospital introduces protective respirator hoods to protect against Covid-19

Liaison Group

University Southampton Hospital have introduced thousands of protective respirator hoods in wards treating patients with Covid-19, developed by researchers at the University of Southampton.

University Hospital Southampton is the first healthcare provider to widely introduce the respirator hood, which was developed into a prototype in just a week, then tested on wards and manufactured at scale in less than a month.

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) experts worked with engineers, medical staff and industry partners to rapidly prototype the reusable portable units, which are known as PeRSo. Each PeRSo consists of a fabric hood which covers the wearer’s head, and a plastic visor to protect their face. It delivers clean air through a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter with belt-mounted fan pack, and can be worn continuously for around eight hours.

Liaison Group applauds the innovation taken jointly by the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton in developing these units quickly, and getting them into use at the trust to protect their frontline workers.

For full details, please see the University of Southampton website.