Medical Devices Technology Int'l (MDTi), in association with the RCN and NHS Innovation Hubs, is to 'Showcase' medical devices based entirely on nurse and patient led innovation on 11 May 2009 at the Harrogate Conference Centre. These medical devices are simple to use and understand but bring about real improvement to the frontline care of patients whilst helping to reduce infection rates and costs within the NHS.

Whilst most thinking is negative in the current recessionary climate, this has not prevented forward thinking RCN Nurses and patients seeing an opportunity to bring about real changes to improving patient care. They are doing this through innovative thinking leading to the development of new medical devices that help reduce infection rates and enable more care to be undertaken within patients' homes, saving the NHS millions each year.

This year RCN Congress clips onto NHS Innovators by showcasing the value and importance of Nurses, Allied Healthcare Professionals and Patients in identifying opportunities for new products that can bring real frontline benefits. As an example, the latest NHS Innovator and RCN member Senior Staff Nurse Sam McDonald of St Austell Community Hospital, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT with the IV-Sty clip based on his original idea.

The IV-Sty clip has been designed so that when giving Intravenous fluids it prevents the 'piggy back' IV secondary line from separating from the primary line so improving infection control and reducing the risk of needle-stick injuries to staff and patients.

Accidental needle-stick injuries are the main injuries in the UK relating to the use of 'sharps'; there is estimated to be about 150,000 such injuries each year. Nurses have the highest rate of sharps injuries amongst health care workers. The risk of infection depends on the pathogen immune status of the worker and the severity of the injury. It is estimated that an injury caused by a sharps will result in disease in 3 to 5 instances in 1000 in HIV cases, 3 in 1000 for Hepatitis B and 20 to 50 instances in 1000 for Hepatitis C.

A 'sharp's' injury causes stress and anxiety to workers. It can result in time off work and there is the issue of compensation currently estimated at a cost to the NHS of £3.5million per year.

With the help of NHS Innovation Hub South West, Sam McDonald's idea was protected, prototyped and tested and licensed to Wolverhampton based medical device manufacturer, Medical Devices Technology International (MDTI).

Notes:

1. NHS Innovations South West is the Intellectual Property Innovation Hub for the NHS in the South West. We provide a free service to all South West NHS staff and are an arms length organisation of the NHS.

The team at NHS Innovations South West have experience and expertise in prior art exploration, market research and the commercialisation process. This encompasses all aspects of NHS technology from identification of ideas through to appropriate protection and establishing licensing agreements.

2. MDTI is focused on and committed to enhanced patient care. Our objective is being realised through the commercialisation of innovative medical devices, where the ideas behind such products have predominately come from NHS clinicians and their organisations. Our business methodology ensures that clinicians' innovations have a certainty of being delivered into the healthcare market, providing for improved patient care in a cost effective manner whilst also generating a financial return for both the clinician and their organisations.

3. MidTECH - NHS Innovations West Midlands is part of a national network of NHS Innovation Hubs established by the Department of Health to identify, protect and commercialise innovative ideas from within the NHS. This includes helping to patent or otherwise protect the ideas and form links with industry that may help to commercialise them - with an aim to ensure that a share of the profits go to the inventor and the NHS Trust where the projects were born. MidTECH have been instrumental in commercialising to MDTi such products as the Physio-Master and the Hook-On IV Stand.

4. NHS Innovations North is the innovation and intellectual property management service available to all NHS Trust in the North East of England and is a service delivered by RTC North on behalf of the NHS. It is one of the nine regional hubs across the NHS in England and is funded by the Department of Health, the Department for Innovation, Universities 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 NorthEast. 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 innovation agency committed to helping business and society manage change. Excelling in the areas of technology transfer, business growth and innovation management, RTC North has worked with thousands of organisations since 1989 to create jobs, wealth and a better quality of life for the people of Northern England.
NHS Innovations North acts as a broker between industry, academia and the health service to bring NHS employees’ bright ideas to life, turning them into products and services that improve healthcare and generate revenue for both the NHS and its industrial partners. NHS Innovations North was instrumental in the commercialisation of the Uflow meter®, a new home testing kit for early diagnosis of prostate cancer to MDTi

5. Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL) works in partnership with NHS Scotland to protect and develop new innovations that come from health care professionals. By developing these ideas, SHIL creates new products and technologies that will improve patient care and generate financial income for NHS Scotland and was instrumental in commercialising to MDTi the RhinoPinch® nasal clip that staunch nosebleeds.