The Bedhead Tidy was developed by nurse Emma Thomson and former biomedical engineer Steve Connew at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust after they were concerned with the disorganised storage of tubing and cables hung by patients’ beds causing contamination issues and avoidable additional costs. They needed a holder which was simple, easy to fit (no screws) & durable for retaining securely & tidily patient oxygen & suction tubing ready for routine or emergency use at the bedhead.
Technology
The Bedhead Tidy is easy to attach to any bedhead, bed end or hospital bed, including manual, electric, semi-electric and adjustable beds. Sustainability also hasn’t been overlooked; the Bedhead Tidy has been manufactured from recyclable ABS which is both durable and very easily cleaned.
Emma Thomson, who is now head of resuscitation services at ESNEFT, said: “When you’re working in healthcare it means you have to adapt all the time to the needs of the patient. The Bedhead Tidy seemed such an obvious idea, but it’s great we had the support to develop it and now we can fit it to all beds across the Trust to help staff and therefore patients to make time matter. It’s a simple device and helps us do our job. It’s also cost saving as prevents wastage from items that are no longer able to be used and have to be thrown away. Every penny counts.”
The Bedhead Tidy is available in three different designs for hospital beds, specialist care beds (neonatal and critical care) as well for the beds in the community offering versatility to suit various healthcare settings.
Funding support from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) where they worked, meant it was developed, tested and trialled and is now available for other health and care providers to buy.
Health Tech Enterprise provided strategic advice to enable prototype development and trial testing of the Bedhead Tidy in real-world settings which ensured that the Bedhead Tidy could transition seamlessly from concept to market launch. HTE also advised regarding intellectual Property (IP) protection for the device and led the negotiations for the licensing agreement to help bring the device to market.
IP Protection
HTE devised an IP strategy to protect the innovation which resulted in the device being protected by registered design rights in the UK and Europe.
Commercialisation
HTE’s support culminated in the successful negotiation of an exclusive licensing agreement between ESNEFT and Walters Medical Limited Ltd. This provided Walters Medical with the exclusive rights to sell the Bedhead Tidy to healthcare providers worldwide. The Bedhead Tidy is now available on the Walters Medical website.
