ABUHB first Welsh NHS Health Board to deploy NRFit
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Since the untimely death of Wayne Jowett in 2001, who died after a toxic cancer drug was wrongly injected into his spine at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, the NHS, medical device industry and various global standards organisations have been trying to produce a mechanical barrier to prevent further tragedies, after the Toft report in 2001 recommended "A new spinal needle with a connection that cannot fit Luer mount intravenous syringes should be introduced, in conjunction with a new syringe which can only be fitted to that specific spinal needle." In the intervening years various attempts have been made to produce a design which is accepted internationally and which would mitigate these 'wrong route' risks.
9 years ago, Welsh Government set up a group (the Welsh Non-Luer Connectors Reference Group - WNCRG) which was responsible for monitoring developments in this area and for coordinating the introduction of such devices when they were available. An international standard was published 2 years ago specifically for epidural and neuraxial devices (ISO 80369-6) which specified new connectors for syringes and needles which would reduce the risks of further wrong-route incidents. Since the publication of that standard, industry have adopted it and have been working with the NHS to deliver medical devices incorporating the new connector.
A decision was made in mid 2017 that Aneurin Bevan University Health Board would be the first Welsh organisation to roll out the new devices. Doctors Stephen Edwards (Deputy Medical Director -
At the date of writing (26th Feb 2018) 3 hospitals have made the transition including the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport. Other hospitals in Wales will start changing over to the new devices later this year, but completion of the process will not be possible until all of the epidural administration sets are available in NRFit designs. This could mean some hospitals or procedures may have to wait until Spring 2019 before all the equipment they need is available.
SMTL Science Award 2017
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SMTL were invited to the 8th RCSEd All Wales Medical & Dental Student Surgical Research symposium at Margam Orangery in October 2017 to judge poster and oral presentations and to present the SMTL award for best science paper. The winner was Gargi Pandey for her poster on "A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of Radiofrequency Ablation in patients with low-grade dysplastic Barrett's oesophagus.". Gargi also won the best overall poster award. The photo shows Pete Phillips, Director of SMTL, handing Gargi her award trophy.
New work programme for NHS England Clinical Evaluation Team
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SMTL have commenced a testing programme for the NHS England Clinical Evaluation Team (CET). The CET reviews and assesses healthcare consumables used by the NHS to identify products that enable staff to provide the highest standard of patient care and deliver the best outcomes for the NHS, and their work will inform the future development of national clinical criteria across various product categories.
SMTL have agreed a work programme with the CET to undertake the testing of advanced woundcare dressings, which they will use as part of their clinical evaluation reports, merging the CET's clinical expertise with SMTL's medical device technical and testing expertise.
SMTL highly commended in NWSSP Staff Recognition Awards event
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SMTL are delighted to have won a Highly Commended award in the Working Together Category at the NWSSP annual Staff Awards, which took place in the Angel Hotel, Cardiff on the 9th June 2017.
The award recognised the close working relationship between NWSSP Finance, Workforce & OD and SMTL during SMTL's move from ABMU HB to NWSSP during the Summer of 2016.
SMTL pleased to announce Matthew Alderman as their new Operations Manager
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Matthew Alderman has been working as a Procurement manager in NWSSP for 7 years, and for this whole period he has been involved with the Non-Luer project and a member of the Welsh Government Wales Non-Luer Connectors Reference Group (WNCRG). In recent years he has also taken on the responsibility for liaising on test programmes being run by SMTL for Procurement Services contracts.
We are pleased to announce that we recently appointed Matthew as Operations Manager for SMTL. Matt's role will continue to include the Non-Luer project and liaison with procurement colleagues, but he will also now deal with other SMTL operational matters and our evolving human factors/usability expertise.
