To be frank we don’t understand this device for patients status post laryngectomy. BBC News thought it was important and has an article about the Sunderland Air Pressure Meter, a first prize winner of the national NHS Innovation Awards in the UK. The details are sketchy, and Canford Group plc, the UK manufacturer, provides little details:
It’s not often that a broadcast manufacturer teams up with the NHS to produce an award-winning medical device… …but that’s exactly what Canford have done with the Sunderland APM, designed to help patients regain and improve their speech after undergoing surgery for cancer of the larynx.
This ingenious little device came out of a collaboration at the Sunderland Royal Infirmary. The electronics were designed by medical physicist Bill Allan, with additional software by Caroline May as a result of the research carried out with patients by consultant ENT surgeon Peter Samuel and senior speech and language therapist, Anne Hurren.
The Sunderland Air Pressure Meter enables patients to measure their breathing control as they re-learn to speak after surgery. The device can display, store or output data to PC, allowing the speech therapist to monitor progress.
To make their work more available to the wider medical community, the Royal Infirmary team approached Canford about production and we jumped at the chance to contribute to the project.
The challenge was a first for Canford, and involved meeting the exacting standards of manufacture for the medical profession. Canford were delighted when the Sunderland team’s efforts were recognised by the award of the top prize in the NHS Innovations North regional awards, which took place at the Sage Gateshead on 12th April.
Regional Medical Physics Department at Newcastle General Hospital provides additional information about the device for patients status post laryngectomy.
Any ideas out there?
The product page…
(hat tip: WMMNA)