This project supports the final development stages of a modular system that provides mechanical breathing in all hospital areas in one device. PenMed was a finalist in the UK ventilator challenge for COVID-19\. During the pandemic, the NHS had many devices that provided ventilation in operating theatres that were idle as operations were cancelled but could not be used on the wards or ICU to breathe for patients as the way they worked was subtly different, they needed different supplies which weren't available such as compressed air, and they were too big. In our design, one portable ventilator device stays connected to a patient for as long as they need it. If the device is used in theatre, it connects to another module to provide some additional functions. This works the same for a patient requiring surgery, they are connected to the same device as they move from the anaesthetic room where they go to sleep, into theatre and back into recovery where they are woken up. This prevents the need to swap devices, which means switching alarms off/on and transferring settings. As a lot of other things may be happening with an unwell patient in ICU going to have imaging done or a patient being prepared for surgery, mistakes can be made. As this is a life-support system, these mistakes can have serious consequences, including death. This modular system removes the need to switch between devices and prevents this method of harm to patients. This device also has systems that are able to learn from the patient during their stay in hospital and present the information to the doctors and nurses to improve patient care. As it is just one device for that patient, it can learn from the whole episode of stay while the patient is unwell, improving the information that we can get from the device. This system provides the UK with a market-leading device in critical care and anaesthesia. The NHS spends over £140m per year on these devices. This device would mean that no ventilator challenge would be needed in future pandemics and it provides a platform for UK-based health professionals to develop systems that improve patient care using the data on the device. This project is the final stage in prototyping and user testing so that PenMed can take the device into first-in-human studies to demonstrate its safe function and gain regulatory approval.

Anaesthesia machines have provided most of the emergency extra critical care needs required during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, issues in the use of these machines for intensive care ventilation such as moisture control, unfamiliar user interfaces and basic ventilation modes unsuitable for unwell COVID patients were highlighted. The potential benefits of being able to use volatile anaesthetic such as Sevoflurane but absence of required scavenging in intensive care was also apparent, especially when IV sedation stocks nearly ran out. Volatile anaesthesia is changing due to environmental pressure on these compounds with high global warming potential- they make up 5% of the NHS carbon footprint and are now a target of government guidelines and targets. Anaesthetic recycling systems have been developed and are coming to market in 2021 with the potential to change a mature anaesthetic machine market with little significant innovation for many years. The current stock of anaesthetic machines are not designed to work well with these systems and therefore, there is an opportunity to develop anaesthetic machines that are capable of the flexibility and performance required post-pandemic and also that are environmentally efficient to deliver the future of anaesthesia and allow use of volatile anaesthetic agents throughout the hospital space without scavenging and piped gas systems. This has the potential to significantly reduce infrastructure costs for the NHS in excess of the anaesthetic machine costs. This project is to develop, test and build two prototype anaesthetic machines that are optimised for recycling systems and flexibility, based on intellectual property from Peninsula Medical Technology. The technology provides a way to integrate the needs for environmental efficiency with the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and generate the next generation of anaesthetic machines. It also provides the necessary regulatory input and independent assessment of environmental goals required. The anaesthetic machine market is a mature market with limited innovation and high barriers to entry, led by companies in the USA and Germany. The changes from COVID-19 and environmental pressures enable space for new technologies and entrants that would typically be denied. This is assisted by access to developed ventilator technologies from the UK ventilator challenge to generate a UK-based solution.