Covid: Nurse inspires custom-fit face mask invention

An intensive care nurse has helped to inspire a new custom-fit face mask after finding it difficult to get personal protective equipment that fitted comfortably.

Valerie Bednar's husband set up Swansea-based MyMaskFit after she struggle to find a suitable filtering face mask.

To speed up the design process and to achieve a seal which will fit anyone, the company has launched a phone app which will scan the face and send the data for a mould to be created and 3D printed.

She said: "There is a lot of confidence in knowing if you have a mask that's reusable, that's assigned to you, you know when you come in for your shift it will be available, you'll have that protection."

The company hopes to develop further a prototype designed by researchers at Birmingham University and King's College London.

Swansea University's School of Engineering will help test and manufacture the face mask, which it is hoped will be available to the NHS in Wales in the new year.