Following the £15million investment in a new Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) at the end of 2023, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust is reaping rewards from new cardiac output technology. The highly accurate patient monitors have already saved around £50,000 on consumables, all while reducing administrative pressures on clinicians by almost five hours per patient, per week.
With approximately 600 admissions of critically ill people into intensive care at Croydon University Hospital each year, the clinical team turned to medical device manufacturer, Vygon UK for help in securing state-of-the-art yet cost-effective equipment. This resulted in the installation of 10 Mostcare Up haemodynamic monitors in their new 22-bed ITU.
Before the upgrade, the Croydon team had six cardiac output machines, which required calibration every 24 hours and used consumables which cost around £50,000 per year. Depending upon the practitioner’s proficiency and the reliability of the equipment, the calibration process could take up to 40 minutes, per device.
Offering benefits including ease of use, no need for calibration, and the elimination of consumables costs, Croydon heralded the ‘plug and play’ functionality of the Mostcare Up monitors with no time-intensive staff training needed, as a huge advantage.
Tim Kuhn is Head of Nursing at the hospital’s Critical Care and Critical Care Outreach Team, and he spearheaded the introduction of the Mostcare Up devices in-line with the unit’s philosophy.
He explains: “Our Critical Care Unit provides a safe and supportive environment in which we care for patients who require specialised nursing and medical care. Our philosophy is based on a commitment to provide physical, psychological and spiritual care for our patients and their families.
“We aim to offer medical and nursing care to the highest standard based on research and best practice guidelines. What’s more, all colleagues who work in the unit are part of a multidisciplinary team, each contributing their skills and knowledge to provide essential support to our patients, who are often the most critically ill individuals in our hospital.
“As part of our ITU investment we formed a consultant group which agreed to trial Mostcare Up. During the trial we noticed how easy the machine was to use – the ‘plug and play’ functionality and data validation without the need for consumables, meant there were clear benefits to using the technology. Once the trial ended we bought ten devices, allowing us to continue to benefit from their ease and efficiency and provide the best care for our patients.”
Mostcare Up is an arterial waveform analysis cardiac output monitor designed to guide and enhance clinical decision making in the operating room and critical care areas. It provides real time continuous advanced minimally invasive haemodynamic monitoring for assessment of preload, contractility, and afterload.
The patented PRAM (Pressure Recording Analytical Method) enables Mostcare Up to calculate cardiac output and other key haemodynamic parameters without the need for calibration or input of demographic data.
Michelle Tsang, Product Specialist at Vygon UK, continues to work closely with Tim and the critical care team. She adds: “We understand that for many clinicians there is limited time and resource to trial new products, so it was fantastic that Tim and his colleagues ran a Mostcare Up pilot.
“At Vygon our focus is always on providing healthcare professionals with industry-leading tools that enhance their job, so we’re extremely pleased to see how the devices are improving efficiencies, supporting patient care and making cost-savings in Croydon.”
