Feature

Cutting calibration and consumables: new cardiac tech promises big savings

UK company Vygon claims its bedside monitoring devices can save hospitals thousands per year by cutting out calibration and consumables altogether, writes Joshua Silverwood.

Device developers are moving to cut out the use of disposable elements inherent to their patient monitoring devices in hopes of streamlining operations. Credit: spaxiax / Shutterstock

When it comes to running a hospital, minimising wastage wherever possible in pursuit of small optimisations has always been a crucial part of the management process, especially when it comes to the use and implementation of complex monitoring devices.

The same applies in the space of haemodynamic monitoring, where complex systems of sensors and monitors are used to analyse a patient’s heart and circulatory system, helping to identify signs of abnormal physiology and timely intervention.

An invasive system is typically used to assess the cardiovascular systems’ response to tissue oxygen demands in patients admitted to an intensive care or emergency unit. These are the environments where the pressure on clinicians to avoid wasting both time and resources is the most intense. In such settings, complex medical devices that typically require consumable elements can contribute to this problem.

In the space of multiparameter bedside monitors, systems are supported by way of disposable parts required to calibrate the device or avoid the inherent infection risk posed by reusing parts. These may be with calibration gasses or adaptive tips for transducers, the component that converts biological signals into signals readable by a patient monitor. The process requires staff, resource and money.

Critical care in Croydon

As a result of this challenge, developers are moving to cut out the use of disposable elements inherent to their patient monitoring devices in hopes of streamlining operations. The UK’s Croydon Health Services National Health Service (NHS) Trust chose to go with the UK medical device manufacturer Vygon, buying up ten of its Mostcare Up haemodynamic monitors to fit out a new 22-bed intensive treatment unit (ITU).

Vygon’s Mostcare Up system is touted for its ability to determine a patient’s vital signs accurately utilising the company’s patented Pressure Recording Analytical Method (PRAM) that inherently sidesteps the need for calibration.

The company claims that the Croydon NHS Trust has been able to make savings of approximately £50,000 per year and put an end to a calibration process that typically would take up to 40 minutes of clinician time in a high-intensity setting such as an ITU.

Tim Kuhn, head of critical care nursing for Croydon University Hospital, said: “As part of our ITU investment, we formed a consultant group which agreed to trial Mostcare Up. During the trial, we noticed how easy the machine was to use – the ‘plug-and-play’ functionality and data validation without the need for consumables, meant there were clear benefits to using the technology. Once the trial ended, we bought ten devices, allowing us to continue to benefit from their ease and efficiency and provide the best care for our patients.”

Adapting to existing tech

In October 2024, the NHS revealed plans to pursue a “major crackdown” on waste, publishing its Design for Life Roadmap in which the health service promises to radically cut down on the amount of single use devices and consumables with the primary aim of saving millions per year.

The body found that disposable medical devices substantially contribute to the 156,000t of clinical waste that the NHS produces every year in England alone, with £10bn spent every year on disposable medical devices.

Speaking with Medical Device Network, Vygon UK product specialist Michelle Tsang said: “When you talk about systems that need calibration, you are talking about systems that all need a calibration kit. Some of these devices also have timecard systems that require clinicians to decide how long a patient will be on cardiac monitoring. These are all consumables that clinicians have to think about. However, with our monitor there is no timecard or calibration.

Croydon took interest [in our technology] because we said that we could offer the same accuracy without the consumables.

Dr Lattanza

“We are able to get all the information we need from the arterial line alone. It can be any existing arterial line and is compatible with any transducer. We adapt to the transducer that is already in place with the patient.

“With Croydon, they were previously using systems that required calibration, which means that a nurse would need to spend around 30 to 40 minutes just to set up the machine. It can be challenging when you are trying to set up the calibration and it has to be done with precise timing. With this system, you have to spend money on lithium and sensors and calibration kits, as well as the time the nurse has to spend with the monitor.

Market competition

The company is facing tough competition occupying a relatively small share of the market when compared to other giants in the bedside patient monitoring space. Research by GlobalData found that the UK-wide market for bedside multiparameter monitors is estimated to bring in revenue of more than $65m, with that figure estimated to rise to $68m by the end of 2030.

This space is largely dominated by device giants such as Koninklijke Philips and GE HealthCare Technologies. Further research by GlobalData found that across the US market, Philips is responsible for almost a third of all devices. However, failures and recalls in its other medical devices and respiratory products could leave space for uncertainty, allowing newcomers to capture a piece of the market.

GlobalData healthcare analyst Charlie Whelan elaborated that although Vygon’s claims regarding economic savings are yet to be truly tested, the time savings inherent to the device could represent a real strength for the product.

Whelan said: “No country in the world has enough nurses to meet the demand for healthcare services and if this is one thing that a critical care nurse doesn’t have to worry about, then that’s better. If it’s, one less thing that can go wrong that’s good too.

Miscalibration with something like this could have a real consequential impact on the patient.

Dr Lattanza

“If you are requiring a nurse to perform the calibration correctly every single day, it is an opportunity for human breakdown, because you won’t always have the same nurse every time. You might have an experienced nurse, you might have a brand-new nurse out of school, you might have all sorts of situations, so one less thing removed from the process is one less thing to go wrong.

Beyond Croydon, Vygon is piloting its devices at several UK hospital trusts ranging from London, through the Midlands and up to Scotland. The company did not comment on whether it plans to expand its pilot scheme outside of the UK, but will be hoping its offer of cost and time saving will align with the NHS’ drive to reduce waste.

‘Breadcrumbs’ guide users to specific points in the laboratory, where they can interact with information associated with the virtually represented equipment. Credit: Cassette Group

https://twitter.com/HealthCoA/status/1760851661575348513

Caption. Credit: 

Phillip Day. Credit: Scotgold Resources

Total annual production

Australia could be one of the main beneficiaries of this dramatic increase in demand, where private companies and local governments alike are eager to expand the country’s nascent rare earths production. In 2021, Australia produced the fourth-most rare earths in the world. It’s total annual production of 19,958 tonnes remains significantly less than the mammoth 152,407 tonnes produced by China, but a dramatic improvement over the 1,995 tonnes produced domestically in 2011.

The dominance of China in the rare earths space has also encouraged other countries, notably the US, to look further afield for rare earth deposits to diversify their supply of the increasingly vital minerals. With the US eager to ringfence rare earth production within its allies as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, including potentially allowing the Department of Defense to invest in Australian rare earths, there could be an unexpected windfall for Australian rare earths producers.

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