Welcome:
We welcome you to our newsletter! You’ll find that it is filled with information on new upcoming projects that we have been working with, such as BSOTS, SNAPe-i, winners of our award from the Meridian Celebrations, tips and information on IP, events, news and more.
Project Highlight
BSOTS and how we have helped in terms of its IP:
We have been working with BOSTS for several years through many stages of its development and distribution.
BSOTS was developed by clinicians and researchers from Birmingham Women’s Hospital and University of Birmingham. It was led by Dr Nina Johns (Consultant Obstetrician and Clinical Lead of Delivery Suite, Birmingham Women’s Hospital) and Professor Sara Kenyon (Professor of Evidence Based Maternity Care, University of Birmingham).
BSOTS is a maternity triage system, which improves the safety of mothers and babies. It also improves the management of the maternity department. It consists of a prompt and brief assessment (triage) of women when they arrive with unexpected problems or concerns. BSOTS has created a standardised way of determining the clinical urgency of which mothers need to be seen.
MidTECH Innovations worked with the BSOTS team and UoB Enterprise to ensure that the system itself was protected. This included offering advice on how best to protect the copyright and ensuring that the system was only used by other organisations under certain conditions. We are now in talks with numerous EPR/maternity systems providers to be able to offer BSOTS to as wide a reach as possible and have even gone international in Australia!
For more information on BSOTS and how we helped its development and spread then please visit our NEW case study on it here: https://www.midtech.org.uk/case-studies/birmingham-symptom-specific-obstetric-triage-system-bsots.html
If you would like to learn more about BSOTS then visit their website here: https://meridian.wazoku.com/#/community/9e10232324164632bd8dd1aaf11ea69e/home-page?searchIndex=4
For more information on BSOTS here is also a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ZwrGujSTk&feature=emb_title
Meridian Awards:
Meet the winners of our MidTECH Award for Best NHS Developed Innovation!
This year has been very different to the previous years and the team had to think of a new way to host the Meridian Celebration of Innovations Awards. The awards took place virtually on the 30th of March 2021 and were hosted by TV personality Des Coleman!
The Meridian Celebration of Innovation Awards credits individuals and organisations that have helped revolutionise healthcare across the West Midlands, with new innovations, technologies, and initiatives.
This year the winners of the awards have been selected for their endless hard work in implementing changes to patient care during the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WINNER of our award the MidTECH Award for Best NHS-Developed Medical Technology Innovation was The Volunteer Platform: WHAT Edition!
Emma Rowan – “Amazed to get this recognition, very humbling. Thanks to Ian at Being Guided for the collaboration, and thanks to Ryan at MidTECH for all your support!”
The Volunteer Platform was developed in partnership with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Being Guided. Initially the volunteer platform was created to help NHS organisations gain additional workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic but, it was clear that the platform could be used to identify possible participants for the COVID -19 vaccine trials.
For the MidTECH Award the following innovations received highly commended and one to watch:
- Highly Commended: Patient Connect: Technology based virtual visiting for hospital patients to reduce social isolation.
- One to Watch: Fit 4 Surgery
For anyone who didn’t get the chance to watch the awards ceremony on the night or would just simply like to watch them again, you can now catch up online here: https://www.meridianawards.co.uk/
What is the Volunteer Platform: WHAT Edition?
The Volunteer Platform has been developed in partnership with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Being Guided. Initially the volunteer platform helped NHS organisations gain additional workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform was then further developed into a clinical trial software. It was evident that the platform could be used for different types of research. It was then used to identify potential participants for the COVID -19 vaccine trials.
To find potential participants for the trials, the platform was integrated with anonymised data from NHS real world cases, which developed its own vaccine registry. Working with the NHS data helped to build a digital registry of patients that could potentially take part in the vaccine trials. WAHT provided clinical and operational guidance to the software design and development process for Being Guided to implement a bespoke digital solution for the NHS.
The Volunteer Platform was also supported by MidTECH Innovations and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN). MidTECH Innovations helped with commercial discussions, negotiations, and contractual aspects of the project.
If you would like to find out more on how we helped, visit our case study here: https://www.midtech.org.uk/case-studies/the-volunteer-platform-waht-edition.html
Project Highlight
Safe Nasendoscopy Assisted Procedure (SNAP) by Endoscope-I – SNAPe-i:
With the COVID – 19 pandemic, many NHS Trusts created ideas and innovations to help stop the spread of the virus and to continue practicing clinical work safely. This brought on the idea of the SANPe-i.
In 2012, Ajuth George and Chris Coulson, both ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons from University Hospitals North Midlands and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham founded Endoscope-i. The Endoscope-i adapter and e-i Pro app, has been taken from concept to market and sold globally. The products record high-definition endoscopic imaging and allows users to view this directly on a smart phone. This imaging can be shared with the patient, other professionals and stored in the patient records, enabling improved patient care.
With the COVID-19 crisis, the team researched how it would be safe to continue performing nasendoscopic procedures. 20% of patients cough and sneeze vigorously which is a known risk factor for transmitting COVID- 19. This presented clinicians with a problem as it made it difficult to perform the procedure.
The then team created a resealable port in surgical masks called the SNAPe-i. The SNAPe-i is easily fitted onto all conventional surgical masks, the patient then wears the mask and then SNAPe-i is aligns with the patient’s nostril. This enables the surgeon to perform the procedure whilst minimising the risk of infections from patients with confirmed COVID-19 or possible COVID-19. Droplets from any coughs or sneezes are caught within the mask.
We MidTECH have helped support SNAPe-i in terms of its Intellectual Property (IP). Below are some words from Chris Coulson on how we helped with the innovation’s development:
From an early stage in project MidTECH have provided critical input on Intellectual Property issues and agreements. There was a necessary speed within the project that MidTECH more than matched, with sensible and fair apportioning of IP (the 2 ENT surgeons in endoscope-i are both NHS employees), with both parties begin very happy with the results. Without MidTECH’s help we would not have been able to achieve our ambitious timing goals.
In March 2021, during the Meridian Awards, the SNAPe – i also won the Meridian Award – with Special Focus on COVID.
There are many plans to further develop the SNAPe-i. In March 2021, the team planned to submit a full patent application and anticipate a version 2 of the SNAPe-i device, which will hopefully be produced in 2022.
For more information on the SNAPe-i visit their case study on Meridian here: https://meridian.wazoku.com/#/idea/4706f4af81b74c2fb82afad554d6ebb7?from_parent=true&from_search=true&searchIndex=4
Website: https://www.endoscope-i.com/
Vaccine rolling out for COVID-19:
We would like to thank the NHS and our colleagues for rolling out the vaccines across the country. Thank you to the NHS for working incredibly hard during the pandemic, protecting lives and for delivering the vaccine programme at such a high speed to the most vulnerable groups and now to the general public.
Meridian:
Did you know that we are partners of the WMAHSN and Meridian? This means that you can access all our expertise and services for free! Our services are available to all NHS Organisations across the West Midlands.
We also help share success stories / best practise. We do this by sharing your innovation across Meridian. This could help spread your idea, help you network with the right people and give you a chance to develop your ideas. If you are interested in this then please contact us.
Learn more about Meridian here: https://meridian.wazoku.com/#/community/5906910ba97b42f4be867abde716b3ef/home-page
Online Events:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many events have been put on hold or postponed. This has led to many events being taken place online. If you would like to have a look at our industry events page, we have listed many healthcare events that are taking place online. If you are interested, then please don’t hesitate to have a look!
https://www.midtech.org.uk/industry-events.html
Q&A – on Copyright:
You may be asking yourself what is copyright? Well Copyright protects your work and stops other from using it without your permission. Did you know that you get copyright protection automatically? You don’t have to apply/ register fill in any forms or pay a fee within the UK.
Copyright protects original works / materials of ‘authorship’ that you have created, including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works.
In relation to the NHS this could include any teaching materials, flyers, handouts, patient information leaflets, presentations, apps, computer systems, videos and much more.
How should I word the copyright statement?
Did you know that you do not have to have a copyright statement on your material to be protected? But we do recommend it.
A copyright statement should have the © symbol, the year, and the rightful owner of the work, specifically the legal entity of who owns the copyright – which is usually the NHS Trust / organisation. You can state who authored the material or what department it came from. However, you want to avoid the statement becoming too large.
If you would like more information on this then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Are your worried that some one may be using your material without your permission and you are wondering that to do?
Then contact us, and we will help you with the wording of a letter to send to them and then deal with that on your behalf. We can even get advice from specialist solicitors if needed.
If you are unsure whether what you have produced is protected by copyright, please get in touch.