Healthcare industry HR and resourcing services provider Apodi Ltd has appointed Richard Geddis as Resourcing Manager.

Previously at SSC and then Talentmark, Richard has spent six years specialising in recruitment across the life sciences up to VP level in the UK. He has also worked on several European recruitment initiatives, placing and relocating many key executives.

Richard also has more than 15 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, working in sales, sales management and training and development.

In his new role, Richard will be working across the life sciences to offer resourcing solutions to customers throughout the UK and Europe.

Based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Apodi is a specialist provider of ‘people solutions’ in HR and resourcing to the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, delivering strategic and tactical services.

The Apodi team offers: exclusive recruitment assignments, provision of interims, recruitment campaign process management, HR and resourcing audits, fully outsourced HR services, consultancy projects in HR and resourcing.

Richard Geddis

GPs at a Bristol medical centre have used telehealth solutions to improve care for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), helping them to remain independent and out of emergency care.

The Orchard Medical Centre in Bristol has integrated remote monitoring systems from Tunstall Healthcare into its CHF service to provide a cost-effective model for the management of this condition.

The centre has freed up care resources and reduced the number of hospital admissions by providing these services.

One patient’s medication compliance improved after she was enabled to view the direct link between poor compliance, weight gain and low oxygen saturation. Another patient did not require out-of-hours care in 18 months, whereas previously she had needed four hospital stays in nine months.

CHF treatment costs the NHS £600m each year, and 60% of this is hospital care. Supporting patients at home through telehealth thus has the potential to achieve significant savings.

Telehealth has proven valuable in identifying changes (e.g. in body weight) at an early stage, enabling early intervention. It has also been shown to improve patient compliance.

“Telehealth keeps people where they want to be, and that’s at home with their family,” said Dr Richard Berkley, clinical lead on the telehealth project. “Daily monitoring has enabled more accurate titration of patient medication, and also gives patients valuable reassurance, reducing the risks of exacerbation and hospital admission.”

The GP practice used remote monitoring systems to integrate and transmit data from weighing scales, blood pressure monitors, peak flow meters and ECG monitors.

The project was a joint venture between local NHS and social care authorities, funded by a technology grant from the council and project support from Takeda UK Ltd. The Orchard Medical Centre is now looking to expand telehealth services in the region.

Royal Philips Electronics has launched a full-face mask as a minimal-contact alternative for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

The FullLife mask covers both the nose and mouth, but is compact and offers patients a clear line of sight as well as reduced noise.

The mask has been launched initially in the US, with a global launch to follow in September 2009.

The FullLife is smaller and lighter than other full-face masks. The absence of a forehead pad means there is a clear line of sight. A dual-textured cushion reduces leaks and maintains a firm seal during patient movement.

“The FullLife mask is built on the same platform as our successful OptiLife mask, which was introduced in 2007,” said Gretchen Jezerc, Director, US Marketing, Sleep Disordered Breathing at Philips Home Healthcare Solutions.

“With a minimalist design and lightweight, durable materials, FullLife provides comfort and convenience for patients. Among its features, a clear line of sight benefits patients who feel claustrophobic, and an integrated exhalation port makes it exceptionally quiet for patients and their bed partners.”

FullLife provides patients, clinicians and homecare providers with a more user-friendly option in the growing field of sleep apnoea treatments.

Healthcare information management software provider Orion Health has given Bottle PR its UK brief.

Bottle PR will build awareness of Orion Health’s products and services among IT managers and clinicians in the NHS.

The win follows a Bottle PR project to promote Orion Health’s RAPA (Recurring Admission Patient Alert) earlier this year.

Kelly Weinstein, EMEA Marketing Manager, said: “We are delighted to be working with Bottle PR again. Orion Health’s UK market is developing well, and PR will be critical to our success by helping us to get a foot in the door with more UK healthcare institutions.”

Claire Cairns, Managing Director at Bottle PR, said: “We have strong credentials for healthcare and IT PR, and it’s great to be able to add another prestigious client in this space to our rapidly growing portfolio.”

Orion Health is a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technologies for the healthcare sector. Its solutions and applications improve patient care and clinical decision-making by providing integrated health data in a single, unified view. Its customers include several NHS hospitals.

Based near Oxford, Bottle PR was established in 2003 and has built an expanding and varied client base. In 2007, it launched Bottle 2.0: a new media PR service focused on Web 2.0 and online communication. PR Week listed Bottle PR among its top 150 UK agencies in April 2008.

Hair replacement company Optima Hair Specialists has invested £250,000 in refurbishing its Birmingham surgery.

Optima intends to double its business in the next two to three years, aiming at a million-pound turnover target by 2012.

The refurbishment will double the numbers of consultation rooms and staff employed by the company.

Peter Murtha, Managing Director at Optima Hair Specialists, said: “In the last six years we have built a reputation based on the dedication and excellent customer service that we offer our clients.

“The significant investment that we have made in the practice will provide our loyal patients with an improved level of service, whilst insuring we have the additional facilities to cater to new ones.”

Optima offers bespoke hair replacement solutions, as well as laser programmes and other therapies to counter hair loss.

The company also offers free hair replacement services for children affected by hair loss through illnesses such as cancer and alopecia, through Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the Little Princess Trust.

Inspired by his own hair loss at the age of 23, Peter Murtha founded Optima in 2003 with the help of stylist Karen Allen.

A drug dispensing pump has been adopted for methadone dosing services in UK pharmacies, prisons and rehabilitation centres.

The MethaMeasure system, housed in a compact cabinet, identifies the patient by fingerprint, measures out the correct dose and records the event.

Methadone, an oral drug, is prescribed for recovering heroin addicts under strictly controlled conditions. The new automatic dosing system saves time, reduces risk of error and improves security.

The MethaMeasure system uses an OEM pump designed by Basildon-based company Verder. The pump has a successful track record for vending and chemical dosing. It has no internal backflow, ensuring accurate dosing with high repeatability. To prevent contamination, it has a seal-less design: only the tube comes into contact with the medication.

“Customer service was the overriding factor in our choice of Verder,” said Stephen Dickson of MethaMeasure. “Their people have been excellent, helping us develop a completely new product that is compliant with all relevant regulations. They have pushed this project from concept to full design and implementation.”

The only methadone dosing system approved by the National Pharmacy Association, MethaMeasure is now available in every UK pharmacy chain.

For more details, visit www.methameasure.co.uk.

MethaMeasure

A portable, battery-powered machine could free people with renal failure from the need to undergo regular dialysis sessions.

The Wearable Artificial Kidney, currently undergoing trials in the USA, enables patients to walk, work and sleep while undergoing a continuous dialysis more similar to normal kidney function than conventional dialysis.

The device has been tested successfully with two renal patients. It can be worn as a belt, weighs only 10 pounds and is powered by two 9V batteries.

“Our vision of a technological breakthrough has materialized in the form of a Wearable Artificial Kidney, which provides continuous dialysis 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Victor Gura, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.

Dialysis patients have to endure regular sessions of forced immobility, and none the less face high rates of hospitalisation and death.

“We believe that the Wearable Artificial Kidney will not only reduce the mortality and misery of dialysis patients, but will also result in significant reduction in the cost of providing viable health care,” said Gura.

“However, the long-term effect of this technology on the wellbeing of dialysis patients must be demonstrated in clinical trials. Although successful, this is but one additional step on a long road still ahead of us to bring about a much-needed change in the lives of this population.”

Expectant mothers in the UK are being advised not to use hand-held monitors (Doppler devices) to listen to their baby’s heartbeat at home.

The advice is based on concern that inaccurate use may give false reassurances, leading to delays in seeking help.

An article in the BMJ from clinicians at Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral describes the case of a 27-year-old woman who presented to the labour ward 32 weeks into her first pregnancy. She had noted a reduction in foetal movement two days earlier, but had used her own Doppler device to check the heartbeat – which had sounded normal.

Monitoring by the antenatal care team indicated a problem, and the baby was delivered by Caesarean section that day. The baby is making progress after eight weeks in the special care baby unit.

Hand-held Doppler devices are used by midwives and obstetricians to check for foetal viability, but an untrained observer may mistake the mother’s pulse for the foetal heartbeat.

The authors report that a Doppler device can be hired for £10 a month or bought for £25–50 on the Internet. Suppliers warn that the device is not intended to replace professional antenatal care.

Heart specialists in Glasgow will be able to extend their research with the aid of a new cardiovascular MRI scanner.

The Siemens Magnetom Verio 3T was selected by the British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glasgow University for its image quality and processing ability.

The Verio 3T will be used to image heart muscle injury in heart attack patients and assess carotid artery circulation in stroke patients or those at risk from stroke, as well as for clinical trials.

“We chose the Verio 3T because, in our group’s view, it was the best available system for cardiovascular MRI in terms of image quality, wide bore and image processing,” said Dr. Colin Berry, Consultant Cardiologist at the Research Centre. “We look forward to the enhancements it will bring in terms of research capabilities, ability and productivity.”

The Magnetom Verio 3T MRI scanner has a 70cm bore, wider than the usual design, and has the strongest magnet field strength in clinical use. It can be used for imaging, spectroscopy and other applications.

James Weir, Regional Sales Manager for Siemens Healthcare, commented: “This order extends Siemens’ success with MRI in the academic arena, as the system will join several others already in place throughout University research centres in Scotland.”

The purchase of the Glasgow system was funded by the British Heart Foundation.

For more details, visit www.siemens.com/healthcare.

Magnetom Verio 3T MRI

The NHS plans to offer an advanced form of radiotherapy for rare cancers of the brain, eye and spinal cord.

Hospitals in England have been invited to bid to provide proton therapy, which can treat tumours without damaging vital organs.

In proton therapy, a cyclotron is used to produce a beam of heavy particles or protons. This beam can be targeted more precisely on the cancer than in radiotherapy given by a linear accelerator.

The main types of cancer currently treated by proton therapy occur in the retina, the base of the skull and the upper spine. Until now, UK patients needing proton therapy have had to travel overseas to receive it.

Health Minister Ann Keen said: “I have asked the National Specialised Commissioning Team to identify possible providers, as I want this important technology to be available to NHS patients in England as soon as possible.

“This is significant news for patients with rare cancers, especially children, as having proton beam therapy will mean that they will receive a better quality of treatment and will not suffer from potential side-effects such hearing loss and reduced IQ.”

Martin Ledwick of Cancer Research UK commented: “It is good to see the Department of Health encouraging the development of different forms of radiotherapy. Although, at the moment, the number of people this treatment is likely to help is quite small, it is possible that as we learn more about it, proton therapy may have the potential to have a bigger impact on cancer treatment.”

The DH will work with the National Specialised Commissioning Team to select providers who can treat around 1,500 patients in England each year. It hopes to make the services available within three to five years.

Ann Keen