Imperial's disease outbreak centre J-IDEA has launched a pandemic hospital planning tool to help cope with extreme surges in demand from coronavirus.

Developed by researchers from Imperial's J-IDEA, the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics, the tool can calculate the capacity of beds, staff and ventilator equipment when implementing a number of healthcare provision interventions  – such as cancelling elective surgeries and converting operating theatres to critical care wards.

Dr Katharina Hauck, Deputy Director of the Jameel Institute, who led the work, said: “Some countries are facing a surge in patients requiring urgent life-saving care. The J-IDEA pandemic hospital planner gives practical support to decision makers in preparing hospitals for this difficult task, so they can hopefully save as many lives as possible with the given resources.”

Dr Hauck co-authored the report with Paula Christen, Josh C D’Aeth, Alessandra Løchen, Ruth McCabe, Dheeya Rizmie and Nora Schmit.

Interactive and adaptable

The planner is publicly available for health services around the world, and is interactive and adaptable to different and changing circumstances and newly emerging evidence. 

J-IDEA is hosting a webinar centred on the hospital planner on 7 May at 4pm UK time. The Imperial researchers will explore questions including: How can you plan for extreme surges in demand with a limited supply of hospital care in the midst of a pandemic? For full details of the webinar, to register or to watch the video afterward, visit the J-IDEA webinar page. 

The analysis was presented in a report by The WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Modelling within the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis (GIDA), and J-IDEA.

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