The Friends of Noble’s Hospital have agreed to fund the purchase of nine ventilators for use during the Covid crisis.

News of the donation, which will cost the charity £204,000, was announced by Health Minister David Ashford during a press briefing ’shout out’ this week.

It has been made possible by continued support from the Scheinberg Foundation.

The Friends posted on social media: ’We are glad to continue our long-standing support of Noble’s Hospital, particularly at this difficult time.

’We understand that the ventilators may be available in as little as two weeks and we are grateful to the management team at the hospital who have worked with us to make this happen so quickly.

’The level of our donation has been possible because of the continued support from the Scheinberg family, for which we are extremely thankful.’

Noble’s has six intensive care unit beds with ventilators plus a spare machine.

On top of that there are three transport ventilators which are used in the air ambulance or for taking patients from A&E to ICU.

And there are six anaesthetic ventilators available for use in the theatre recovery areas which have been adapted as intensive care unit spaces, making a total of 16 in total, which is the number that can be staffed.

The ventilators purchased for Noble’s by the Friends will arrive in about a month, and will ultimately replace the existing ICU set.