SARUS-CPR hood invented by collaboration to revolutionize resuscitation

“Frontline healthcare workers and care givers have been absolutely vital to our response to the pandemic and out of all of the challenges of managing the spikes of COVID-19, there has been a lot of innovation in healthcare,” NHS Tayside’s medical director, Professor Peter Stonebridge, said.

Thanks to the input of other experts in manufacturing and design, he said, the essence of an idea has been developed into an innovative piece of equipment, named the SARUS-CPR hood, which is an acronym of Safer Airway Resuscitation.

It was first conceived by Professor Peter Stonebridge, NHS Tayside’s medical director.

Rod Mountain, NHS Tayside clinical lead for the project, added: “As an NHS worker, I am immensely proud to have been part of its development. This has been a genuine collaborative effort between NHS Tayside and Keela, drawing upon fantastic local engineering and garment manufacturing expertise. COVID-19 drove the innovation, prompting us to look at different approaches to PPE, but we believe its applications go well beyond the current pandemic.”

To further explain about SARUS-CPR, it is a small lightweight hood made from transparent fabric which creates a barrier between the patient and the individual performing resuscitation. The hood reduces the risk of contamination and infection from bacteria and viruses such as COVID-19.

The hood has been designed to allow trained CPR responders to easily fit it onto a collapsed patient as soon as they arrive on the scene. This helps to also reduce the time taken to initiate airway ventilation and makes resuscitation safer for both patients and personnel.

The SARUS-CPR hood can be used by trained personnel in a range of settings, including hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances.

As part of the development process the SARUS-CPR hood has undergone extensive trials. It is expected the SARUS-CPR hood will be available for use across the UK later this year.

Robert Rea, head of innovation at SHIL, said: “The SARUS-CPR hood is a real testament to home grown collaborative expertise, taking clinician-led insight from the NHS and turning it into a tangible device that’s now ready to be launched onto the market.”

The teams at NHS Tayside and Keela have played a vital role in realizing that ambition, while their clinical and manufacturing expertise combined with SHIL’s intellectual property and commercialization expertise has accelerated launch onto the market.