Medipex, the NHS Innovation Hub for Yorkshire and Humber, is seeking a company to help commercialise a clinical fluid disposal system designed by the medical physics team and clinical staff at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (STH) which the inventors say will reduce infection risk and potentially save the NHS millions of pounds annually.
Leeds-based Medipex says NHS Trusts generate an estimated 193,000 tonnes of clinical waste annually, all of which must be efficiently disposed of. The new fluid disposal device could, the inventors say, potentially save the NHS £30 million in five years in urology departments alone. Medipex says: “Existing fluid disposal methods often see waste going into plastic containers and taken to landfill. Alongside being costly, this method often sees theatre technicians lifting heavy containers, with the potential for crosscontamination through leakage. Clinical staff at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals wanted to eliminate these issues and developed a system which sees waste go down a drain.”
John Wilson, chief technologist within the Royal Hallamshire Hospital’s Medical Engineering department, elaborates: “Traditionally fluids from surgery on urology patients have gone straight into a ‘catcher ‘below the individual and thence, via a vacuum system, into plastic containers for removal to landfill. However, the total annual consumable and landfill costs are estimated at over £25,000.
“In our system the fluids are again taken via pipes via vacuum, but this time to specially designed stainless steel tanks within the theatre, with a flowmeter informing anaesthetists and surgeons how much fluid has originated from each patient. Once each tank’s fluid reaches a set level the liquid is emptied into the drain. The local water authority has confirmed the system meets all relevant regulations.”
The team has now been asked to design similar devices for other Trust hospitals and is talking to several potential manufacturers. The tank, control box and a vessel containing anti-foaming fluid, are all currently in separate containers, but the team’s aim is to combine them in one integrated unit. “We have high hopes for widespread take-up,” John Wilson adds.
