POTENTIALLY lifesaving equipment is being delivered to Basildon & Thurrock Hospital to help it battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Anglia Ruskin University has delivered eight ventilators, six of which are portable, that were being used for training on ARU's Chelmsford campus to the Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group – which includes Basildon Hospital.

The delivery also includes the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care's stocks of 20,000 disposable gloves, protective gowns and aprons, hats, surgical face masks and hand sanitiser.

Among other items delivered are four anaesthetic machines that can be used as temporary ventilators, nine cardiac monitoring devices, 10 defibrillators and 10 portable suction devices, which play an important role in the care of patients who are being ventilated.

Professor Nigel Harrison, pro vice chancellor and Dean of the university's Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, said: "A range of staff within the university have worked collaboratively with colleagues in Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group to respond to the challenges presented by the pandemic, ensuring that equipment from our skills labs is made available to clinical services where there is the greatest need."