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Current treatment of venous ulceration in the UK costs the NHS approximately £300-400m per year. We intend to show that using our 3D technology primary care could save in excess of £100m per year - this is in both dressing cost and nurse time. In this project we will demonstrate that our technology is transportable, reliable, quick and easy to use. We will use 3D technology to also measure ulcer volume and accurately monitor the rate of healing. The goal is to prove our financial modelling in practice and that our compression hosiery is at least equivalent to 4/2 Layered Bandaging.

Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the most common reason for primary care consultations, accounting for 17 million consultations in the European Union. Antibiotics are commonly prescribed in primary care for RTIs for both adults and children even though in most cases they are viral infections. Our new product will improve patient outcomes by enabling healthcare practitioners to distinguish between viral or bacterial infections by measuring exhaled breath volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers. It has the potential to change current practice by informing the GP to prescribe antibiotics for people with symptoms of respiratory tract infections during a primary care consultation.

Over-prescription of needless antibiotics is fuelling the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance that threatens to render current antibiotics ineffective. We propose a rapid, highly-compact, non-specialist operator and low-cost device for use in primary healthcare, enabling GPs to immediately diagnose bacterial infections and their antibiotic susceptibility. This will lead to a step-change improvement in informed, targeted prescriptions; saving lives, money and time, as well as slowing resistance. Our technology uniquely brings together nanophotonic waveguides and microfluidics to determine the response of bacteria to minute quantities of antibiotics. In this Phase 1 proposal we will demonstrate proof-of-principle, working closely with GP end-users.