The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Doctor on your arm’ wins £1m contract
TECHNOLOGY: Armband that monitors patients’ health for Fife and Lothian trials
A health technology company founded by a former Dundee University medical student has won a £1 million contract for the further development of its “doctor on your arm”.
Snap40’s wearable armband continuously monitors patients’ vital signs and sends out an SOS to medical staff if it detects signs of serious illness.
The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) healthcare development contract from NHS England allows the company to further scale its technology and carry out clinical studies with NHS Fife and NHS Lothian’s Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh (Emerge). In an ideal world patients would have doctors sitting with them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Increasing pressure on healthcare systems and challenges in prioritising demands has made that level of care impossible.
Company founder Christopher McCann said: “Snap40 changes that.
“It allows our world-class healthcare staff to care for many more patients by helping them to prioritise who needs attention most.
“This contract from NHS England is a recognition of the value our product can bring to health services all over the world.”
He added: “With the elderly population rapidly expanding and requiring far more health and care resources, snap40 is a catalyst for change in health and care pathways to meet these resource challenges.
Dr Amanda Wood, NHS Fife’s assistant research and development director said: “We are delighted to continue collaborating with snap40.
“Their product has the potential to change how we deliver healthcare.”
The contract continues snap 40’s impressive progress, with the product likely to receive CE marking for European Conformity next month.
Last year it received investment of £2 million from Edinburgh firm Par Equity, understood to be the largest sum ever awarded to a Scottish start-up.
Christopher started the company as a medical student at Dundee.
He was spurred into action after seeing the deterioration of intermittently monitored patients due to the late recognition of warning signs.