Challenge
The British Army had identified a significant capability gap. To fill it, they required a functioning, easy-to-deploy Collective Protection (ColPro) Field Hospital system that could be delivered in multiple configurations. 2 Medical Brigade was tasked with scoping the requirement in partnership with Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) under the LC3i CBRN Protection Program – no small task given there were 94 separate technical requirements to meet compliance.
Design
M2S was engaged as design lead for the project and worked with 34 Field Hospital in York to develop a new laydown plan for a Field Hospital that could deliver modern medical care to the highest possible standard. A highly collaborative process, it began by documenting conceptual ideas on a white board. These were then translated into more detailed plans for discussion and approval. Once the plans were accepted by 34 Field Hospital, DE&S and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), M2S led the engagement of a specialist external supplier, Innovation For Shelter SARL (i-4S), to produce First Articles of each shelter design for rigorous testing.
Key system design criteria include:
Protection from Threat Agents in AEP-72 for a 72 hour period, expanding the traditional 24-hour safe operating period for ColPro systems.
Maintaining minimum pressure of 150Pa while running in over-pressure, exceeding the capability of the previous ColPro Field Hospital held by the British Army.
Maintaining 103Pa for 10 minutes (min) in the event of complete power failure.
Complete shelter assembly in 30 minutes or less, including frame, main canvas, sunshield, internal liner, flooring, lighting and power distribution, air conditioning and air filtration unit.
The Role 2 Enhanced system to provide a working, receiving field hospital within 12 hours – emergency department, surgery and ICU with supporting supply and administration facilities.
Being at full capability within 24 hrs and without hospital service interruptions of the patient receiving pathway.
Airlock entry meets AEP-54 transit time requirements.
Connected Clinical Decontamination Unit to ensure patients are suitably clean to enter the Toxic Free Area of the ColPro Field Hospital.
Satisfies all fire regulations as tested by the UK Defence Fire Service.
Solution
M2S oversaw the complete delivery of the approved ColPro system through First Article Factory Testing, Factory Acceptance Testing, Initial Operating Capability (IOC) trials and Full Operating Capability (FOC), achieving acceptance into service.
Project deliverables included:
- 46 x forward clinical units for contaminated soldiers in the field.
- 2 x Role 2 Enhanced ColPro Field Hospitals with a 2/1/4/12 configuration
- 2 x resuscitation bays
- 1 x operating theatre
- 4 x intensive care unit beds
- 12 x ward recovery beds.
- 1 x Role 3 ColPro Field Hospital with a 4/2/8/48 configuration.
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory testing:
- Dstl conducted its own detailed testing at multiple stages during delivery of the project. In many instances, the ColPro Field Hospital solution significantly exceeded the initial criteria set down by the British Army.
- Protection levels – system passed both protecting the Toxic Free Area (TFA) and decay times within the airlocks to meet AEP-54 essential requirements.
- Complete power failure – the TFA held pressure above 103Pa for over 10 minutes and was still holding pressure after 20 minutes.
- Shelter assembly and time to reach ColPro operating pressure – all shelters were able to be built to time specification with the system holding at 180Pa across the whole TFA.
- R2E Field Hospital assembly – complete structure was operational in 22 hours using just 48 personnel out of the available 112 medics assigned for system build.
- Role 3 ColPro Field Hospital assembly – met a build time of 72 hours and held at 150Pa across the whole TFA.
- At the end of the FOC trial, Dstl confirmed that the ColPro Field Hospital met technical requirements and could go into full operational service with Army medics.
Impact
The project delivered a fully compliant ColPro Field Hospital system which went into service with 22 & 34 British Army Field Hospital units. The new Field Hospital was such an advance on the previous Army Deployable Hospital Care (DHC) system, its use was extended beyond specific threat scenarios to become the Joint Expeditionary Force lead hospital. It is now the British Army DHC lead hospital, deployed to meet Role 1, Role 2, Light Manoeuvre, Role 2 Enhanced and Role 3 Field Hospital requirements. As a benchmark system, the British Army ColPro Field Hospital is the system design followed for JP2060 Phase 3.
