Hospital invests in state-of-the-art ventilators that will help improve patient recovery

West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust has spent more than £107,000 on six new Puritan Bennett 980 ventilators, which help patients to breathe more naturally and recover more quickly.

The trust, which runs Hemel Hempstead, Watford and St Albans hospitals, is the first in Europe to treat patients with the new type of ventilator.

Chief executive Samantha Jones said: “It’s important that hospitals have the latest technology to treat their patients. We have invested heavily in new equipment over the last couple of years, as well as on upgrading our wards, clinics and other areas.”

The ventilators, which help to strengthen a patients’ lungs and speeds up the time it takes for them to come off ventilation, are based within the trust’s intensive care unit where the sickest patients are cared for.

Traditionally, ventilators determine the length and depth of the breath a patient takes. However, the new equipment allows a personal setting for each patient and are driven by the person’s own ability to breathe.

The ventilator also protects patients when their lungs are vulnerable by purifying the air that they take in through a new filter system.

Matron for the intensive care unit Alison East said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have these new ventilators. They are the latest design and will help our patients to start breathing on their own much quicker, which, in turn, will help them to get better sooner.”