Neonatal wireless system enhancing infant care
Technology Investment FundEach year, over 100,000 premature and critically ill babies in the UK and 500,000 in the USA are cared for in neonatal intensive care units, often for extended periods, and require continuous monitoring using multiple wired sensors.
These wires create physical and emotional barriers to care, which can be distressing for families and hinder essential parent-child bonding and make it difficult for staff to provide optimal support.
Recognising this challenge, Dr Kathryn Beardsall, Department of Paediatrics and Dr Oliver Bonner, Department of Engineering developed the Neonatal Wireless Transmission System (NeWTS), a bespoke wireless system tailored for neonatal care. It replaces traditional wired monitoring with a Bluetooth system for monitoring skin temperature, heart activity (ECG), breathing rate and blood oxygen (pulse oximetry). The system is designed for the unique needs of preterm babies, including high humidity environments and fragile skin.
NeWTS integrates seamlessly with existing patient monitors and electronic health records, unlike competitor products that require new equipment. By facilitating Kangaroo Care, which is skin-to-skin contact between parent and child, NeWTS aims to improve clinical outcomes, increase breastfeeding rates and reduce maternal stress.
“The support of Cambridge Enterprise has been an essential part of the NEWTS journey bringing expertise, insights and resources without which this would have remained a PhD project rather than becoming a product now entering clinical trials.”
Dr Kathryn Beardsall continued:
“The NEWTS project has been a great journey, combining the dreams and voices of parents and nurses with engineering ability to design and develop the technology, and the support of Cambridge Enterprise to turn this into a real business proposition.
As a clinician, there are always problems to solve, but the NEWTS journey started with a parent.”
The project began with academic proof of concept work, followed by human factors design and functional prototyping. Key milestones include successful clinical feasibility studies and the filing of a priority patent in May 2023.
The project has secured substantial grant funding for commercial development, including support for prototype design, biocompatibility and battery testing and compliance certification. This includes funding from our Technology Investment Fund (TIF).
Image credits: Unsplash, Pexels
