May 8, 2019
The SEM Scanner has received a Medtech Innovation Briefing (MIB), as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advice. The SEM Scanner objectively alerts clinicians to specific anatomical areas of a patient’s body at increased risk for developing pressure damage, meaning patient risk assessments are performed before visible damage manifests at the skin surface – a world and clinical first.1
Click here to view the SEM Scanner NICE MIB
MIBs are commissioned by NHS England and are designed to support NHS and social care commissioners and staff who are considering using new medical devices. The Briefing includes a description of the SEM Scanner technology, how it is used, its potential role in the pressure ulcer care pathway and also includes a review of relevant published evidence and the likely costs of using the technology.
BBI CEO Martin Burns welcomed the NICE decision: “Around 95% of pressure ulcers are preventable.2 Our singular objective is to reduce pressure injury incidence by helping clinicians make prevention real. Where we have seen our SEM Scanner in use, the results have been dramatic. This briefing will help avoid the need for organisations to produce similar information locally, saving staff time and resources. When you consider that the average prevention cost of using the SEM Scanner works out at just £1.50 per patient per day, 3 we believe that we have game-changer technology available now in the UK.”
2018 data from NHS Improvement showed that treating pressure damage costs the NHS more than £3.8m per day; 1,700-2,000 patients per month develop pressure ulcers.4
Glenn Smith, Nurse Prescriber at St Helen’s Medical centre was contacted by NICE as an expert adviser. Smith was the Tissue Viability and Nutrition Senior CNS/Patient Safety Lead in 2017 when the SEM Scanner was in use at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust.
Glenn Smith commented that “I am aware that the SEM Scanner has been available in the UK now for a few years and that BBI have been gradually building their clinical evidence – this review from NICE, which is one of the highest health technology assessments in the UK, now supports the fact that the SEM Scanner could be a frontline technology that could transform how we care for patients at risk of pressure ulcers.”
To hear Martin Burns CEO, BBI discuss the importance of the NICE Medtech Innovation Briefing click here
References; 1. Okonkwo H. Milne et al. (2018). Evaluation of a Novel Device Using Capacitance of the Detection of Early Pressure Ulcers (PU), a Multi-Site Longitudinal Study. Accepted and presented at NPUAP. Retrieved from https://epostersonline.com/wounds2017/node/814 2. Findlay D. (1996) Practical management of pressure ulcers. American Family Physician. 54(5), 1519-28, 1533 3. BBI Data on File 4. NHS Improvement (2018). Pressure ulcers: revised definition and measurement
