Smart wound sensors being trialled by NHS

The trial is focussing on people with diabetes-related foot ulcers

A study is under way that it is hoped could reduce amputations in people with diabetes.

Nottingham researchers have received a £902,524 grant from the Medical Research Council to develop a smart dressing to assess whether wounds are healing or infected.

The dressings are being trialled at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.

Experts said they hoped it would make a huge difference to the NHS.

The trial is focussing on people with diabetes-related foot ulcers.

Researchers said wound management costs stand at £8.3bn a year, more than 4% of the NHS budget.

The smart dressings incorporate optical fibre sensors to monitor how well a wound is healing

They said better monitoring had the potential to reduce the 7,000 plus lower limb amputations for people with diabetes in England every year.

Prof Steve Morgan, co-director of the Centre for Healthcare Technologies and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Nottingham, said: "Currently, regular wound redressing is the only way to visually assess healing rates, which can be detrimental as it can encourage infection and disrupt progress.

"Our smart wound dressing addresses this through the incorporation of optical fibre sensors, which can remotely monitor multiple factors associated with wound management, such as temperature, humidity and gases associated with healing and infection."

The study will see 10 patients with diabetes-related foot ulcers have the dressings applied and monitored on a fortnightly basis for a total of eight weeks per patient.

During appointments, the wounds will be assessed, and smart dressing applied for up to one hour under observation while measurements are taken.

Prof Fran Game, consultant diabetologist and clinical director of Research and Development and the Derby Clinical Trials Support Unit at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), said: "If we knew that a wound was healing well without having to use healthcare professionals' time just to visually inspect it, it would make a huge difference to the NHS.

"Equally, knowing very quickly that wound healing had stalled, or an infection had developed, would mean that we could commence appropriate treatments much more promptly which would improve outcomes.

"I'm thrilled the first trials of this device are being conducted at UHDB and that patients with diabetes will have the opportunity to support such ground-breaking research."