In 1981 an article appeared in The Times written by Dr Philip James in which he highlighted the benefits of high doses of oxygen for patients living with Multiple Sclerosis.

I had met Dr James in 1980 when I attended an offshore medic’s course, he was one of the teachers on the course. At this time, I was Director of Diving Operations for Keliston Marine Ltd, a company based in Ipswich. As part of our equipment, we had a standard Royal navy decompression chamber.

One day I met Fred Kay (who had been diagnosed with MS) and he had read the 1981 article and asked if we would thread him in the Keliston decompression chamber.

Fred knew others living with MS who thought that they might benefit too.

We at Keliston became one of the first to offer a high dose of oxygen treatment.

The Keliston chamber then had to be made ready for an offshore contract and this was a cause for concern for those with MS who were using the chamber, because most felt that the oxygen was helping with their symptoms.

So, I decided to attempt to design a purpose build chamber with large door and comfortable seats, this took time but resulted in the first purpose built unit being installed for use near Ipswich followed by a first double lock unit.

I build all the control panels from scratch with the help of the then Chairman of ARMS (Action Research Multiple Sclerosis) John Simpkin.

In 1983 on leaving Keliston we started Medilock Ltd which became Diveline Medical Ltd.

We have built more units than any other manufacturer and still service the majority of the chambers in the UK and Gibraltar.