Category: health

Vhi celebrates milestone 50,000 free self-service health checks

Vhi today released new health and wellbeing insights generated from 50,000 free self-service health checks over a two-year period.

The on-the-spot health assessment stations provided at workplaces and other sites across the country in partnership with Sisu Health measure blood pressure, body mass index, and perceived stress, as well as screening for diabetes and cardiovascular risks. Participating users can subsequently benefit from lifestyle advice on a range of health issues through an integrated portal, with signposting provided to GPs in cases of identified health risks.

Since the re-introduction of the Vhi health checks scheme in September 2022, over 40,000 members of Vhi corporate health schemes have actively monitored their health and wellbeing using the mobile self-service health stations which visited 540 workplace locations and sites nationwide.

Since the introduction of the health check stations that more than 9,000 people were recommended to contact their GP following a health assessment. These referrals encourage early intervention in cases of health risk and help to reduce the likelihood of developing chronic illness. More than half of those who used the health stations (21,000) had not received a blood pressure check in the past 12 months prior to screening, with 14.3% of those assessed recording high blood pressure.

Other insights include:

  • 16% of all participants recorded high blood pressure, with 49% of all men measuring ‘at risk’ to high.
  • 2002 Health checks triggered a ‘GP call to action’ for high blood pressure (140/90) and or high BMI (35+).
  • 16% of participants indicated that they are a smoker, a little under the 18% national average as published by the HSE.

Professor Charlie Foster, Head of Population Health, Vhi said: “Investing in the health and wellbeing of employees is crucial in building happier and healthier workplaces. That’s why we’re delighted to reach this major milestone in the use of our health check services. Encouraging team employees and members to actively monitor and look after their health through regular checks can drastically reduce the risk of developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease. Benefits are also seen by employers who see happier, healthier and stronger employees alongside real costs savings in reductions in the impacts of smoking and poor mental health.

“By providing quick and easy access to health checks in workplaces and other sites around the country, we’re empowering members to identify and address health risks early on and help them to achieve better health outcomes. This is one of the many ways in which Vhi is driving innovation in how healthcare is delivered and helping our members live longer, stronger and happier lives.”

Jez Styles, Director of Growth, SisU Health said: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone through our partnership with Vhi. Given the increasing burden of chronic cardiovascular and metabolic health conditions on global healthcare systems it is important that new technology should be accessible, convenient and deployed strategically. SiSU believe that people should be able to access health checks in places where they live their lives, with workplaces presenting a prime opportunity for Vhi’s members to identify developing or undiagnosed conditions.”

Vhi provides an extensive range of corporate health and wellness services to support healthier and more productive workforces. Corporate health programmes can be tailor designed to ensure the evolving needs of employees are met and include access to mental health supports and holistic wellness programmes focusing on resilience, sleep, nutrition and movement.

For more information on Vhi’s corporate health and wellbeing services, please visit: www.vhi.ie/employers.

Revolutionary treatment transformative for Irish clinics

A LEADING podiatrist and business owner who has completed nearly 1000 treatments using a revolutionary new medical device has hailed its potential as the future of treating painful skin lesions.
Having adopted Emblation’s Swift® device, Dublin-based podiatrist Joseph Egan revealed that it has become the most effective form of treatment in his three clinics across Ireland.
Designed by global medical microwave leader Emblation, Swift is an innovative form of treatment that uses targeted bursts of microwaves to treat warts and verrucae.
Joseph, who is the owner and director of MyFeet, explained that he was convinced to implement the device into his clinic after seeing promising research on its results – and has since reaped the benefits of its highly effective treatment.
Joseph said: “We are seeing hugely positive results for patients across our clinics. I’ve been really impressed with how effective treatment with the device has been.
“When you compare this against more traditional forms of treatment such as cryotherapy or treating with salicylic acid, the difference is night and day.
“For us, it’s been a positive step change, leading to a much easier process. Using Swift means we don’t have to provide protective padding or dressings and they don’t need regularly changed.
“Additionally, patients aren’t having to go through persistent pain every week that they otherwise would if they went down other routes like cryotherapy, acid or invasive surgery.”
Unlike other traditional treatments, Swift utilises revolutionary microwave technology, targeting the tissue with a highly controlled dose of energy, with research showing that the treatment has an efficacy rate of up to 86.4% on verrucae.
Over 345,000 treatments have been performed across the world and the innovative microwave technology is undergoing trials as a treatment for conditions such as fungal nail, facial acne and melanoma.
Speaking about the future of treatments, Joseph added: “In my opinion Swift is currently the most effective form of treatment clinicians can provide for their patients when it comes to warts and verrucae.
“The research is what convinced us to start using it and it’s been an excellent decision from both a patient care and business standpoint and we’ve not looked back since.
“From a business perspective, we recouped what we paid for the device in three to four months, which is a massive bonus. From the get-go, we’ve wanted to improve our treatments for customers and Swift® has managed to do that – almost instantly.”
Emblation founders Gary Beale and Eamon McErlean, who first crossed paths during their postgraduate studies at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, jointly established the company.
Speaking on Joseph’s feedback, Chief Commercial Officer, Jonathan Williams said: “It’s obviously incredibly encouraging and motivating to hear such positive feedback about Swift.
“The treatment has proved to be a real game changer when it comes to patients’ quality of life, and we’re still very early into our journey in Ireland. We’re happy Swift® has had such an impact for Joseph and most importantly his patients and we can’t wait to continue to grow Swift’s presence across the country.”
In 2021, the firm experienced a significant injection of capital when Apposite Capital, a London-based specialist in healthcare, invested an eight-figure sum.
This financial boost propelled the firm’s rapid global expansion, resulting in the acquisition of a distribution company to form Emblation Inc.
This financial injection also paved the way for the establishment of new Emblation subsidiaries in Canada and Germany, in addition to their expansion into more than 20 other countries.
This financial boost tripled the company’s workforce necessitating larger office space. Emblation has now moved into their state-of-the-art headquarters £4m headquarters in Stirling.
To find out more about Emblation visit https://emblation.com/
 
To find out more about MyFeet visit: myfeet.ie

EHS International Launches New Dublin Offices Following Major Investment

EHS International, a leading Irish environmental, health, and safety (EHS) company founded by Chris Mee, has announced the official opening of its new offices in Ballymount, Dublin. This expansion is part of a significant investment nationally by EHS International, underscoring the company’s commitment to advancing EHS standards across Ireland and beyond. Since leaving his previous company, Chris Mee has invested €5 million in the setting up of his new enterprise.
The newly renovated 10,000 square-foot facility at IFC House, 23 Ballymount Road Upper, Kilnamanagh, Co Dublin, is a comprehensive training centre with collaborative spaces. EHS International offers a wide range of services from this location, including specialised EHS training, consultancy, and occupational health services. There is also ample car parking on site.
Leading the Dublin team is Robert Butler, recently appointed as the Dublin Director for Operations & Training. With 12 dedicated professionals operating out of the Dublin office and a team of over 100 employees spanning Ireland and the UK, EHS International is poised to reinforce its position as the fastest-growing provider of integrated EHS solutions, having launched in October 2023.
The opening of the Dublin office marks a significant milestone in EHS International’s journey to becoming a global leader in EHS services. Speaking on the launch, Chris Mee, CEO of EHS International, said: “Our new Dublin headquarters represents a crucial step in our expansion strategy, allowing us to better serve our clients in the Dublin and Leinster area.”
Robert Butler, Dublin Director for Operations & Training added: “This new office is a testament to our growth and our dedication to providing unparalleled EHS services including Safety and Fire specialised training and EHS consultancy. We look forward to working more closely with our Dublin and Leinster clients from this new state of the art centre of excellence.”
Leveraging over three decades of expertise, the company offers a comprehensive suite of services, including EHS consultancy, Fire & EHS Services, training, occupational health & recruitment, solutions to businesses on a national and international scale. For more information about EHS International and its services, visit ehsinternational.com.

Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute at St James’s Hospital becomes first in Ireland or UK to introduce robot to make chemotherapy drugs

The Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute at St James’s Hospital in Dublin has become the first hospital in the UK or Ireland to introduce a compounding robot to produce cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients. As part of the evolving robotic programme in the hospital, this new initiative has the potential to supply chemotherapy products more efficiently and safely, increasing productivity and leading to a better experience for cancer patients at the hospital.

Chemotherapy is traditionally produced using a highly manual process carried out in pharmacy departments. Overseen by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, it is physically intensive, involving measurement of doses, reconstitution of commercially sourced drugs and dilution into patient specific doses. Therefore, there is a risk of human error and a need for high levels of quality assurances and verifications. Staff globally often report repetitive strain injuries due to the labour intensity of production, as well as burnout.

The Aseptic Compounding Unit at St James’s Hospital is the busiest in the country, producing 30,000 products annually. With cancer levels rising alongside a growing and ageing population, this demand will rise in coming years. Funds for the new robot were raised by the St James’s Hospital Foundation.

Gail Melanophy, Director of Pharmacy at St James’s Hospital said: “This is a major step forward for our staff and our cancer patients at the hospital. We  aim to produce up to 50% of the oncology/haematology day ward’s chemotherapy needs within weeks of introduction and we hope this will significantly increase when at full capacity, including inpatient needs. This will free up time for our pharmacists to produce other products that the robot does not make and ensure that our valued patients never have to wait for their treatments.”

Aleena Mary James, nurse, Liz Hogan, patient, and Brid Curran, Clinical Nurse Manager.

The first patient received their treatment made by the new robot at the Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute today (11th April) on the hospital campus. Liz Hogan from Ratoath, County Meath is being treated for cervical cancer at the hospital and was infused with a customised dose of the chemotherapy produced by the robot.

She said: “I noticed no difference at all when I received my dose of chemotherapy today at St James’s Hospital – but I am reassured by the wonderful staff here who have told me that the new robot will help to ensure the chemo for all the cancer patients like me will be of very high quality.”

13 of the most commonly used cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs used at St James’s Hospital have been initially selected to be produced by the robot. Trials at the hospital have demonstrated that the advance preparation of the drugs is readily achievable, meaning they are available in the clinics when patients arrive for their sessions.

For the pharmacy staff, the use of the robot protects them from repetitive strain injuries commonly associated with this type of manual process, as well as from exposure to hazardous drugs used in the compounding of chemotherapy. Patients can be assured of the quality of the chemotherapy produced due to the environment in which the robot is housed as well as the flexibility to use the range and scope of products previously produced in the pharmacy. There are also potential cost savings to be realised as the robot can store partially used drugs for use in the production of subsequent doses, thus optimising the use of expensive drugs.

Aisling Nolan, Director of Development at the St James’s Hospital Foundation, said: “I am delighted that the hard work of the Foundation supporters, from patients to families to our own staff, has paid off with the installation and use of this new robot. Cancer care is a core service at St James’s Hospital and this robot will help our cancer patients and the staff who care for them every day.”

The project was made possible due to a highly collaborative multidisciplinary team including pharmacists, technicians, engineers, electricians and ICT staff along with commercial partners to plan, implement and test the technology.

CEO of St James’s Hospital Prof Mary Day said: “The Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute aspires to being a comprehensive cancer centre where patient care, research, clinical trials and cutting edge treatments combine to lead to better patient outcomes and experiences. Being the first hospital in the UK or Ireland to use this new robot to make chemotherapy drugs is another example of how we are constantly striving to find new and better ways to serve our patients and assist our staff.”

Clanwilliam Introduces Patient-focused App ‘Pippo’ to Revolutionise GP Services

Global healthcare technology company Clanwilliam has announced the full launch of Pippo, an innovative patient focused app designed to streamline and simplify interactions between patients and GPs in Ireland. The roll out of the application is enabled by a multi-year seven figure investment with several hundred thousand euro already invested in the solution.

Pippo reduces the burden of managing healthcare administration by simplifying the management of repeat prescription requests, appointment bookings, and other patient requests. A pilot version of the app enabling the management of patient bookings was rolled out across GP practices nationwide last year. An average of 40 hours every month in administrative duties was saved by practices using Pippo over the course of the successful pilot scheme.

The full launch of Pippo includes the introduction of a new online repeat prescriptions functionality into the app. This functionality is expected to save participating practices an estimated 15 to 30 minutes per prescription and unlock valuable clinical capacity.

Many GP practices currently manage repeat prescription requests, patient appointment bookings and other requests via time intensive channels, such as phone calls, consuming valuable practice capacity. Pippo streamlines the management of these administrative functions through a fully digital and easy-to-use platform that enables patients of participating clinics to manage requests online.

Designed with stringent security standards, the platform ensures the secure end-to-end protection of patient data and is fully interoperable with existing GP practice management systems including Socrates and Helix Practice Manager.

Commenting on the full launch of Pippo, Eileen Byrne, Managing Director of Clanwilliam Ireland, said, “The nature of healthcare is rapidly evolving in our digital age. Increasingly, digital technologies have a crucial role to play in making existing healthcare services more agile, flexible and responsive, for the benefit of both healthcare professionals and their patients.

 “We are delighted to now be able to offer repeat prescriptions functionality through the app, providing another seamless, patient-led interaction that creates efficiencies for practices.

With its capacity to deliver seamless, secure and efficient interactions between GPs and patients, the roll out of Pippo is an important step forward on this journey of transforming healthcare. By increasing the efficiency of GP patient interactions including appointment booking, payments, and refilling prescriptions in a simple and easy to use way, we’re helping to unlock significant benefits for both doctors and patients.

 Through Pippo and the ongoing development of our range of pioneering healthcare innovations, we hope to continue our progress in improving healthcare delivery and realising our vision of a fully connected healthcare system for all.”

Claire Kavanagh, Practice Receptionist and Pippo Project Lead at Tower Medical, commented, “Digital healthcare innovation is an important part of improving healthcare services for patients and doctors across Ireland. By working closely with Clanwilliam for many years and leveraging their suite of technology solutions, we’ve been able to enhance the delivery of our practice’s services and continue meeting the evolving needs of patients.

Pippo is an important digital service that can simplify a range of interactions between patients and GPs and save valuable hours in administrative duties. Integrating the pilot version of Pippo in our practice increased the efficiency of our booking system, unlocking valuable practice capacity and helping us to foster a better patient experience.”

For over 25 years, Clanwilliam has forged successful integrations and partnerships with healthcare technology providers and worked with key stakeholders such as the Department of Health, ICGP, and the HSE to help shape the future of the digital healthcare space in Ireland. Pippo is the latest in a series of healthcare innovations aligned with the HSE eHealth programme of work, including digital health initiatives such as Chronic Disease Management, e-Referrals, electronic prescriptions, the newly launched STC Analyser, and Covid vaccinations.

Pippo is part of Clanwilliam, founded in 1996 in Dublin, when Howard Beggs established Medicom Medical Computer Solutions to help doctors utilise technology to deliver better care. It has grown into a global healthcare group of more than 25 technology products and services committed to improving healthcare across the world. It has 19 offices and more than 1,050 staff in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and India.

Researchers led by University College Dublin could save tens of thousands of lives with new pre-eclampsia diagnosis

A team led by University College Dublin (UCD) has been working on an innovative research initiative that could transform pre-eclampsia diagnosis. It is designed to support clinicians to make effective and efficient clinical diagnosis of suspected pre-eclampsia through intelligent and timely risk stratification of patients’ clinical and blood biomarker data, using technology from SAS, the leader in AI and analytics.
With 140 million births each year, more than 11 million women and their babies could be affected by pre-eclampsia globally. Difficult to diagnose and with complex origins, pre-eclampsia has a long-term impact on the health of mothers and their children. The condition claims the lives of 70,000 expectant mothers and 500,000 babies every year worldwide.
Every pregnant women with suspected pre-eclampsia will undergo multiple blood tests, but there is no effective rapid test to aid clinicians in diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. Research by the UCD team funded by Science Foundation Ireland, led to the discovery of important biomarkers with diagnostic and predictive power which, when combined with other clinical data, could be used to create a powerful AI (or machine learning) model to support clinical decision-making.
The solution developed is called AI_PREMie and uses SAS® Viya® hosted on a Microsoft Azure cloud environment.
When clinicians are faced with complex individual cases, AI_PREMie will offer a pre-eclampsia risk score, with red, amber, or green flags to support their clinical decision; including a unified view of the patient data used to create the classification, incorporating unique platelet biomarkers as well as relevant clinical data and demographic information.
“SAS and Microsoft brought experience from banking and government, for example bringing data security skills as well as scalability and resilience,” explained Patricia Maguire, Professor of Biochemistry at University College Dublin. “Clinicians must have absolute trust in the system, and SAS and Microsoft were able to help us deliver on this right at the start.”
With immediate plans to trial AI_PREMie in Dublin maternity hospitals later this year and roll out globally in the coming years, UCD hopes to help care providers around the world prevent thousands of deaths and medical complications caused by pre-eclampsia.
Professor Maguire adds: “Every seven minutes an expectant mum loses her life because of the complications of pre-eclampsia. And about every 40 seconds, a little baby is lost again due to complications of pre-eclampsia. We’re looking forward to deepening our partnership with SAS as we develop AI_PREMie and, ultimately, help clinicians save more lives.”
Alan McGlinn, Director, SAS Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside Microsoft supporting the tremendous work that’s already been achieved by the team led by University College Dublin and to continue the partnership as they look to broaden the uptake of the AI_PREMie solution.
“This is a great of example of a Data for Good project where data, analytics and AI can support the healthcare sector in saving the lives of patients. Powerful analytics combined with the human expertise of medical professionals is a potent combination and something we can expect to see more of over the coming years.”
Find out more about this project here and listen to this webinar featuring Professor Maguire on how to use cloud-based analytics and AI to accelerate health care research.

AI Powered Healthcare: Paving the Way for a Brighter Future for Patients

The driving force behind Artificial Intelligence (AI) is its potential to accelerate human progress and enhance our experiences in all areas of our lives, and in no area is this more significant than healthcare.

The healthcare sector has seen unbelievable progress in the last decade, including the rapid, cross-border innovation that saw us through the pandemic. However, with a rapidly growing population and the CSO estimating that the numbers aged 65 or over will double to 1.6m by 2051 together with rising healthcare costs, we will continue to face increased challenges to our health. For the healthcare system and life sciences industry in Ireland, this means pressure to treat more patients, more cost-effectively and with better results.

The good news is that Ireland is in a strong position to face these challenges. Advances in genomics, bioinformatics, microscopy, medical imaging, and many other areas have created an avalanche of data that, if captured and analysed correctly, can be used to significantly improve patient outcomes.

A future of personalised healthcare

Using AI combined with High-Performance Computing (HPC), clinicians can develop truly bespoke treatment plans by analysing vast data sets, discovering unique patterns, and deriving insights at a speed no human could process. It has the potential to revolutionise patient care, promising improved efficiencies as well as more predictive and accessible care. The people behind Paid.Care understand the need for integrating advanced technology with compassionate healthcare solutions. Their approach focuses on ensuring that innovations like AI and HPC directly enhance patient outcomes and accessibility.

Previously, healthcare providers have relied on a one-size fits all approach, treating the illness rather than the individual. Innovative diagnostics and bespoke treatments have the potential to either prevent a condition arising from the outset, or failing that, to allow much earlier diagnosis and treatment highly tailored to each individual.

HPC is a key part of the personalisation puzzle, as it enables doctors and consultants in Ireland to derive actionable insights from large, complex data sets at lightning speed. In fact, genomic analysis that previously took days can now be achieved in minutes.

Whether using machine learning or AI to analyse medical images, detect patterns across populations, design medical devices, or solve problems such as how to predict protein structures, healthcare professionals need to be able to run compute-intensive workloads at high speed.

Electronic health record (EHR) systems, for example, are a potential source of real-time insight but may store millions of confidential patient records across a decentralized infrastructure.

As the volume of data grows, healthcare organizations can provide personalized care at lower costs by adopting new systems capable of processing large, disparate sources of information. HPC is providing healthcare organizations with the performance and efficiencies needed to turn data into actionable intelligence in near real time to speed discoveries and improve care.

Personalisation doesn’t just stop there – it can predict the future.

By looking at patients’ unique genomic make ups, doctors could design specific methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, estimating an individual’s disease risk and developing tailored reactive, or perhaps even proactive drug therapies. Advances in this space in the coming decade could make personalised diagnostics based on an individual’s genetics more accessible than ever.

Trailblazing AI technologies

We’re already seeing many exciting healthcare AI examples in practice, including within cancer diagnostics and treatment. In Europe alone, 16-17 million citizens are either being treated for cancer or are in post-treatment long term remission, a figure that is only set to increase over the next 10-20 years. AI offers better detection and better treatment, including AI tools that spot tumours and lesions doctors might miss.

In Ireland, Dell Technologies and University of Limerick’s Digital Cancer Research Centre to develop an AI-driven platform that is helping researchers and healthcare professionals deliver precision treatments for patients with B-cell lymphoma by understanding how it develops.

By using emerging technologies, researchers at the Digital Pathology Unit at the University of Limerick’s Digital Cancer Research Centre can also better understand the pathogenesis of these malignancies and develop novel therapeutic approaches.

AI has already given rise to innovations in robot-assisted surgery to improve patient outcomes as well. Integrating AI and robots in surgical processes helps amplify a surgeon’s effectiveness. Data from pre-op medical records can be analysed by algorithms to assist the team in planning procedures and guide the team as they perform the surgery.

The future of AI powered healthcare requires collaboration

While the future of AI-powered healthcare, underpinned by HPC, is exciting, the question remains: is the medical community adequately prepared for this revolution? According to Statista, the industry is currently valued at €19.1 billion but is expected to grow to €173.9 billion by 2030.

To realise its potential, the industry will need to invest in technology and skills. This is where joining forces with technology partners and vendors will be key, as they will be able to bring their AI skills and expertise to help quickly scale AI projects. Our team at Dell have been working with public and private sector organisations across the island of Ireland to do just that.

With the technology and healthcare industry working together, the next generation of patients will see a level of care that, until recently, we could only dream of. Now is the time to collaborate, innovate, and bring about the AI-powered healthcare revolution.

By Ivor Buckley, Field CTO, Dell Technologies Ireland

Irish Company Origin Care Group and Charter Medical Group announce virtual ward strategic partnership

Charter Medical Group and Origin Care Group are delighted to announce the expansion of their successful strategic partnership, marked by the implementation of the Origin Connects Health solution in 2024. The next generation of this ‘virtual ward’ solution, facilitates the delivery of virtual care across multiple healthcare facilities and multidisciplinary teams.

The Origin Connects Health solution opened the reality of a ‘virtual ward’ to Charter Medical Group, seamlessly integrating comprehensive, multi-site clinical governance with a versatile digital patient care platform. Utilising secure smart technology, vitals monitoring equipment, and inclusive patient applications, this solution supports integrated patient care within the context of multi-site patient management.

Through collaborative efforts, the technology has been further developed to incorporate additional clinical pathways and functionalities. As a result, Charter Medical Group has been able to extend the provision of intermediate and step down care beds. The Origin Connects Health technology ensures continuity of care for clinicians and a seamless transition for patients.

 

Charter Medical Group is the leader in its field in Ireland in the delivery of high-quality care of the elderly services to both public and private patients in both the community and hospital settings. A key enabler in the delivery of such care is the effective and efficient use of novel technology. Tom Byrne, Chairman of Charter Medical Group said “Origin Care Group technology enhances our ability to care for patients, supports the expansion of our operating potential and the efficient management of vital care resources. We are delighted to extend our relationship with the team at Origin Care Group.”

Philp Hogan, CEO of Origin Care Group said “Cutting-edge digitally enabled technology, integrated across healthcare networks, plays a significant role in enabling healthcare operators to work together to ease the pressure on our healthcare system.

The collaboration between Charter Medical Group and Origin Care Group represents a forward-thinking approach in this area, emphasising the important role of technology in the delivery of safe, seamless patient care.”

MedTech moulding trends to watch

MedTech is a multi-billion-dollar manufacturing sector. Unsurprisingly, industry analysts are always keen to pinpoint the newest transformational medical and life science technologies that are expected to shape future treatment pathways. 

Regional Medical Director of the Global Sumitomo (SHI) Demag team Andrew Sargisson shares his industry insight and global predictions for the medical market, touching upon how these latest trends are influencing investments in medical injection moulding facilities worldwide. 

Thermoplastic and LSR moulding continues to be used extensively to manufacture a huge variety of everyday medical applications. The range is broad and can include implantable components, test tubes, petri dishes, PCR tubes, pipette tips and other labware, as well as medical monitoring devices, drug delivery components and surgical equipment.

In 2023, the global medical injection moulding market size was estimated at USD 22.54 billion. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 2024 to 2030. Much of this growth is being driven by advances in self diagnostics, the home healthcare sector, improved healthcare infrastructures in emerging economies, and an aging population, which WHO predicts will double by 2050.

The medical market, particularly diagnostics, was strongly influenced by the Coronavirus pandemic. As anticipated, there has been a natural levelling-off for pandemic-related consumables.

More recently, there is a stronger leaning in the medical market towards larger strategic and more complex projects, such as drug delivery devices and pen style injectors. This is predominantly due to the global growth in diabetes care, where demand for advanced glucose monitoring and insulin delivery devices is propelling innovation. Testament to demand, credible industry reports forecast that the diabetes device market will surpass USD 68.2 billion by 2032, almost triple its 2022 value. 

With regard to machinery, there is a strong move towards “copy & paste” systems and processes in both Europe and North America. The global medical team at Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, led by business development director Anatol Sattel, are also noting more requests for remote system access to historical machine data. This is predominantly to assist with troubleshooting and monitoring validated process settings.

To support these efforts, the company’s R&D team continues to develop an IoT dashboard to facilitate data analysis and visualisation, transfer and storage of know-how, as well as maintenance planning and prediction. Within this assistance system, additional autonomous and interconnected functions are being conceived to provide valuable insight into the machine performance and different production variables.  

The development of process optimisation systems, integrating material and knowledge with simulation tools is probably the most exciting development on the horizon, claims Sargisson. Such systems will enable processors to observe advanced settings and capture deeper processing insights. 

The company’s ultimate vision is an intelligent machine that can independently make predictions about part quality, machine wear and failures and deliver optimisations online. Enabling greater process consistency and allowing for real-time machine maintenance to be adjusted accordingly. 

To support these advances and in order to meet the explicit quality management and validation ISO 13485 standards for medical devices,  Sumitomo (SHI) Demag introduced new machine user parameters, digital quality control and KPI analytics into its IntElect S medical production package. One of these advanced Med-Spec demo cells is now located in Limerick, Ireland. This will enable customers to perform validations, run tool trials and use the facility to provide valuable process optimisation training to technicians.

Also observed during the pandemic, larger scale adoption of home healthcare and smart diagnostic devices, continues to accelerate at pace. 

With significant access to start-up finding, telehealth is the boom-market to watch. It is current exhibiting a CAGR of 19.7% between now and 2030. Online video and audio consultations with physicians and medical consultants are increasingly being used to deliver quality healthcare while simultaneously reducing heavy work and cost burdens. The telehealth segment is split between services and products. Items such as wearable patient monitoring and telecommunication devices accounts for around one third of the market.

For medical moulders already producing vital monitoring devices, including oxygen, weight, glucose and ECG devices, as well as infusion pumps and cannulas etc. and already meeting the exacting healthcare standards, the transition to homecare device production should be relatively seamless.  

High profile acquisitions of diagnostics companies, IPO listings, strategic partnerships, and the rise of virtual care platforms provide further assurance that the diagnostics market is on the cusp of another huge growth curve. This all indicates that there are clearly exciting opportunities ahead for moulders operating in the high tech medical device and diagnostics product development and production space.    

In 2024, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag will host its inaugural productivity roadshow. With four stopovers planned for July in the UK and Ireland, including Limerick, customers will be invited to explore all the latest trends, productivity and profit-enhancing technologies. Including medical. Watch this space!