Medical technology designers are to pitch a new contoured support snood helping to improve the quality of lives of motor neurone disease sufferers whose neck muscles have weakened to a panel of ‘Dragons’ Den’ style judges as part of a £10,000 innovation challenge.
A team of experts from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Co-operative have been singled out from hundreds of entries across the country to showcase the work as part of the NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes ‘Acorn Challenge’. The NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes is being run by NHS England and aims to recognise and reward small ideas that have the potential to make a big difference to patients.
The Sheffield support snood is a lightweight neck collar that sits along the contours of the patient’s neck muscles, allowing patients’ freedom to move their neck. The design – which has been tested on 26 patients suffering with motor neurone disease – could be used for patients suffering with other devastating neurological conditions, such as stroke and trauma, and makes everyday tasks such as eating and speaking easier for patients whose quality of life is already severely impaired by debilitating illnesses.
The Sheffield support snood has been designed and developed through a collaboration between the NIHR Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Co-operative, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.
To find out more about the NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes visit www.england.nhs.uk/ ourwork/innovation/challenge-prizes/.
