Case Study
Breaking down barriers to physical and emotional care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
MIND-BODY INTEGRATION THEME
A novel neonatal monitoring device replaces traditional wired equipment and enables families and staff to provide optimal care and support for newborns.
Unmet Need
Babies receiving care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) require continuous monitoring of vital signs such as heart rate and temperature. These are measured through multiple sensors and devices that send the patient data to computers through wires. The wires often get tangled and make it difficult for clinical staff to provide care and for parents to hold the babies through skin-to-skin contact, which is vital for neurodevelopment and alleviating stress and anxiety.
Solution
The Neonatal Wireless Transmission System (NeWTS) removes the physical and emotional barriers caused by existing monitoring devices by enabling a remote connection between the sensors and the computer. This makes it easier for staff to provide the best care and for parents to hold their babies and provide the much needed contact and comfort in early life. Parents, clinical staff, and hospital managers work alongside the research team to ensure the system meets everyone’s needs.
Support Provided by the HRC
Dr Kathryn Beardsall, Co-Lead for our Mind-Body Integration Theme and Consultant Neonatologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, led on the development and evaluation of the NeWTS system alongside her colleagues in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
Project Progress
FROM
TRL STAGE
TO
TRL STAGE
Outcomes & Impact
INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP
NeWTS was developed in a collaboration with the Department of Paediatrics at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
What began as an academic project has evolved into a successful, multi-disciplinary collaboration across the healthcare, academic, and industry sectors. With support from Cambridge Enterprise and other industry partners, NeWTS demonstrates strong commercial potential and the capacity to transform neonatal healthcare.
PATIENT BENEFIT
NeWTS improves the quality of care for newborns in the NICU by breaking down the practical and emotional barriers of traditional wired monitoring equipment, enabling parents to hold and bond with their baby, and staff to provide optimal healthcare.
This novel wireless system facilitates early skin-to-skin contact, or Kangaroo care, which improves infant brain development and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes, reduces parental stress and anxiety, supports breastfeeding and reduces length of hospital stay.
Staff will also have better visual and physical access to their neonatal patients, enabling them to provide life-saving care more efficiently and save valuable nursing time.
PUBLICATION & DISSEMINATION
£1.8 million NIHR i4i funding was secured to support a project that takes NeWTS from a Prototype to Commercial Product.
Recently, this team has been awarded prestigious NIHR i4i THRIVE funding which will support the development of this technology and a structured programme of entrepreneurial training, mentoring, peer support and networking.
FUNDING LEVERAGED
After developing a prototype by working with parents and staff at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, NIHR funding supported further work to ensure the specifications of NeWTS met the needs of a commercial product and explore regulatory requirements.
In 2024, £1.8 million NIHR i4i funding was secured for a project to finish development of the system, manufacture for testing on babies in the NICU, and generate evidence for regulatory approval.
NeWTS has also been awarded funding from the Technology Innovation Fund (University of Cambridge) which accelerates commercialisation and de-risking of emerging technologies.
Recently, this team has been awarded £141,000 NIHR i4i THRIVE funding which will support the translation of this technology from a commercial product into clinical practice, alongside a structured programme of entrepreneurial training, mentoring, peer support, and networking.
Quotes
“The NEWTS project has been a great journey, combining the dreams and voices of parents and nurses with engineering ability to design and develop the technology, and the support of Cambridge Enterprise to turn this into a real business proposition.
As a clinician, there are always problems to solve, but the NEWTS journey started with a parent.”
Dr Kathryn Beardsall
Co-Theme Lead for Mind-Body Integration, NIHR HRC PCH | Consultant Neonatologist, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT
Partners
