NHS Innovations North helps support a new life saving device for premature babies

A device which allows vital heart readings to be taken from very small babies has been developed by doctors at a North East hospital.

The device developed aims to help facilitate the positioning of neonatal intravenous catheters in premature babies using ECG recordings.

Developed by the Regional Medical Physics Department and the Special Care Baby Unit at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the new neonatal device named ‘Safe Place’ aims to increase the accuracy and reliability of positioning the tips of intravenous feeding tubes. This device will also greatly reduce the risk to the baby.

Alan Fenton, Consultant Neonatologist at the Special Care Baby Unit at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

"Inserting very fine intravenous tubes for giving drugs and food is a routine part of looking after very tiny babies often weighing less than 1kg. It is crucial that the end of the tube sits in a large vein but is away from the heart to avoid potentially fatal complications. Presently this is done using a series of rules of measurements followed by an x-ray, but as you can imagine such small tubes are often hard to visualise on x-ray.

"However by using a high quality ECG reading obtained through the tube using Safe Place we are able to place the end of the tube more accurately and in time may reduce the need for x-ray in these vulnerable patients."

NHS Innovations North, based in Sunderland, has been involved in assisting the Regional Medical Physics Department and the Special Care Baby Unit with the development of the technology. NHS Innovations North is the NHS Innovation Hub for the NHS in the North East of England, and is a service delivered by RTC North Limited.

Louise Shaw, Intellectual Property Manager at NHS Innovations North has helped The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to licence Safe Place to Vygon Limited and has also assisted in the identification of suitable manufacturing partners in the North East Region.

Mark Smith, Business Development Manager at Vygon UK added:

"As providers of healthcare and medical products worldwide, this was an opportunity that we couldn’t miss out on, particularly with the massive benefits this will have to the lives of such tiny babies.

"Being involved in this unique device has enabled us to not only work with the clinical experts at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust but also to capitalise on the wealth of manufacturing expertise in the North East.

"We are grateful for the help and support received from NHS Innovations North in helping us to make this project a success."

Manufacturing support for the novel device is being provided by Summit 1 Technology, an electronic manufacturing service based in Jarrow and Classic Industries Europe, injection moulding specialists based in Middleton-in-Teesdale.

John Tweedlie, Managing Director at Summit 1 EMS Ltd said:

"We are really pleased that we can help in the manufacture of this device. This is a great opportunity for us to enter a new market and we are extremely positive and passionate about making this device a success. We look forward to seeing the difference that this can make to people’s lives."

ENDS

Notes to editor:

NHS Innovations North is the innovation and intellectual property management service available to all NHS trusts in the North East of England and is delivered by RTC North on behalf of the NHS. Its is funded by the Department of Health, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and is part financed by the European Union’s ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13, securing £800,000 ERDF investment through regional development agency One North East. The ERDF programme is bringing over £250m into the North East to support innovation, enterprise and business support across the region.

RTC North is an independent company delivering initiatives and providing services to support economic growth. Our consultants excel in the areas of technology transfer, commercialisation, business growth and open innovation and have worked with thousands of local companies since 1989 to create jobs, wealth and a better quality of life for the people of Northern England. RTC North and its subsidiaries act as delivery partners for business support programmes on behalf of One North East, Yorkshire Forward, the Northwest Development Agency and the European Commission.

27/Jul/2010

Contacts: Jamie Ollivere at RTC North

Notes to editor:

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