US expansion for smart medtech company
A North West smart medtech company is expanding into the US healthcare market to protect American healthcare workers and patients from the rising tide of needlestick injuries (NSI).
NeedleSmart, which is based in Liverpool and has offices in Philadelphia, has pioneering disruptive technologies in the global healthcare sector.
The company will initially focus its efforts on helping the US healthcare system reduce needlestick injuries, which cost the US healthcare industry more than $1Bn a year pre-Covid.
Approximately 5.6 million healthcare workers in the US are at risk of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens via NSI or other sharps-related injuries, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration every year.
NeedleSmart is working closely with lawmakers and Government agencies in the US to inform, advance and extend legislation that will protect healthcare workers and frontline staff.
Michael Barron, NeedleSmart Chief Operating Officer in the US, said: “Needlestick injuries were already a serious global problem pre Covid-19, with more than 3 million reported cases each year and rising.
“The introduction of a global vaccination program has added significantly to this with pandemic with NSI statistics yet to be made publicly available.
“The global supply and use of needles is at an all-time record, which means the risk of becoming injured by a NSI has also greatly increased.
“If we factor into this equation that hospitals, emergency services and healthcare staff are under even more pressure, facing longer shifts and suffering from burnout and chronic fatigue, this creates the perfect storm for an unprecedented increase and risk of NSI to US healthcare and frontline emergency services staff.”
He added: “With NeedleSmart, we can not only reduce and prevent NSI to key frontline healthcare staff, EMS personnel and patients, but we can increase staff efficiencies as we link our bespoke software solutions directly to the NeedleSmart Pro hardware and eliminate significant amounts of pre and post procedure administration and in-efficiency.”
