11th December 2015

10th MediWales Innovation Awards are a win for the NHS & life science in Wales

We’ve been celebrating the achievements of Welsh life science for an entire decade and we welcomed hundreds of MediWales members to this popular and prestigious event to honour the tenth anniversary of the MediWales Innovation Awards.

Andrew Goodall, Director General of the NHS spoke on clinical collaboration with industry to begin the ceremony, and presented the first award.

Organised in collaboration with Health and Care Research Wales, the evening included winners from industry and NHS award categories.

A record number of award applications for NHS and industry collaboration were received this year that detailed exciting and innovative projects. The prevalence of industry and clinical partnership and evidence of increased collaboration this year proves to be a true success for MediWales’ campaign for closer relationships between its members.

To begin the ceremony, Gwyn Tudor, CEO of MediWales and MC of the awards evening welcomed the guests and introduced Andrew Goodall to present the first award.

NHS Awards

All NHS awards were supported by Health and Care Research Wales.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board won the Partnership with UK/International Industry, for their project with Philips, VITAL II, which tested the Philips Guardian Solution as an integrated system with wireless monitoring of vital signs and hospital wide alerts of critical care specialists. The study targets a reduction of cardiac arrests and earlier transfer of critically ill patients to the safety of the Intensive Care Unit. This award was sponsored by Roche and presented by Andrew Goodall.

The Innovation within the NHS award, sponsored by Rocialle and presented by Jon Bisson, was won by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board for their project C.H.A.aT, the Care Home ‘Ask and Talk’ volunteering service, an innovative service where retired NHS staff visit older people in nursing homes, providing a confidential ear for older people to talk about their quality of life.

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, who worked with Rocialle to develop an IV cannula insertion pack, won the award for Collaboration with a Welsh Company, sponsored by Renishaw and presented by Carys Thomas. The development of the pack of standard component was a cost effective way to help address outstanding issues for all healthcare providers and improve compliance to best practice.

Industry Awards

Huntleigh won the Innovation award, which was sponsored by Abel & Imray and presented by John Jeans for their new digital handheld Doppler. The innovative technology assesses the haemodynamic system, allowing fast and easy measurements using algorithms that optimise the presentation of waveforms and enhance the quality of sound using a revolutionary Dynamic Digital Noise Reduction (DDNR) system and gel filter.

Salar Surgical took home the Start-Up award for SP.eye, the first device to combine 3 dimensional precision and integrated needle safety for the large and growing intravitreal market, delivering sight saving drugs safely and efficiently. The award was sponsored by Neem Biotech and presented by Heather Graz.

2015 has been another record-breaking year for Sharp Clinical Services, who took home the Outstanding Achievement award for their growth in revenue, staffing, facilities and services provided. The continued investment in people and resources is providing a great platform for future growth and development. The award was sponsored by Finance Wales and presented by Melanie Goward.

The Partnership with the NHS, sponsored by Teamworks Design & Communications and presented by Keith Harding, was won by Rocialle for their All-Wales cannulation procedure pack, which embeds best practice, provides efficiency gains, helps control infection and by ensuring the correct documentation is used, improves onward patient care. The collaboration included research from ABMU and input from other Welsh clinicians.

GX sponsored the Export Achievement award, which was presented by Matthew West and won by MedaPhor won for the successful export of their product ScanTrainer, a virtual-reality based, high fidelity ultrasound skills training simulator. It enables medical practitioners of any scanning ability to self-learn their required ultrasound scanning skills using a combination of hands-on practice, curriculum-based teaching and metric-based assessment.

DTR Medical won this year’s Judges Award, with the judges agreeing that the company embodied the spirit of the Innovation Awards. Moleculomics and Glyconics were also mentioned as highly commended applications.

For more information, contact Tess Coughlan-Allen 02920 473456