WALES is leading the way in helping manufacturers design affordable and one-off medical devices for individual patients.
These devices could range from products to make daily living easier, including utensils and reading aids to customised grips for walking aids for people with arthritis and specialised seating cushions.

Despite the increasing demand for personalised healthcare products, the costs involved using traditional manufacturing processes can make them prohibitively expensive.

But funding from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) programme has allowed the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UIWC) to open a unique centre to develop patient-specific medical products.

The new service brings together the clinical specialist expertise of the Medical Applications Group (MAG) and the industrial expertise and rapid prototyping specialism of the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research (PDR), which are both based at Uwic.
The pioneering new centre will work with medical technology manufacturers in Wales, providing access to the latest technologies and techniques developed in rapid customised product design.

Technologies include the use of advanced CAD images, medical scans, rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing technology – or tool-less manufacturing – to design and develop affordable bespoke products.

The centre will work with companies to create one-off products for specific patients, but it also works with companies to improve the performance of existing medical products by incorporating customised design features to meet individual patient needs.
Lesley Griffiths, deputy minister for science, innovation and skills, said the A4B programme, which is supported by European funding, would promote collaboration between higher education and industry.

“Our universities have the expertise and highly-specialised facilities that can help drive forward innovation, increase levels of research and development and help industry remain ahead of the game,” she said.

“This latest centre funded under A4B will help up-skill businesses in this sector, giving them a competitive advantage and bring new products to the market. It also has the potential to bring new investment into Wales.

“Of equal importance are the benefits for individuals as bespoke products could have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of patients, resulting in improved patient care and a reduction in social costs.”

Jarred Evans, PDR commercial director, said the application of contemporary product design and new technologies means it is possible to produce one-off products as cost-effectively as it would be to create a batch of thousands.

“There is plenty of help and support available for companies developing standard medical devices but nowhere offering specialist skills, technology and knowledge in the emerging field of patient specific healthcare devices,” he said.

“This centre will be unique in the UK and Europe and has the potential to provide specialist services to a large proportion of the UK’s medical device and rehabilitation industry.
“The majority of bespoke devices are currently fabricated within an NHS department and are expensive and only designed for single patients where there is no suitable mass-produced product.”
A technology unit at the centre will house the latest medical software and necessary hardware to create low volume, patient-specific product design and production.

Revolutionising the process of adapting cars for disabled drivers is an example of how the new centre will work.
Until now making such adaptations has relied on taking physical casts and multiple measurements of an individual driver’s body.
The process can be uncomfortable, debilitating and lacking in dignity at the same time as being expensive and time consuming.
These casts and measurements are then used to from the basic templates to modify, by hand, the interior of a vehicle, including the seating and controls.

Adaptations using this method can cost £60,000 and take up to six months to complete.
But the driver and the movements used to control a car can now be captured in 3D using digital scans.
The interior of the vehicle can then be digitally redesigned quickly and accurately and the rapid manufacturing technology to produce the unique one-off configurations and components.

It is thought these techniques could reduce the costs and timescale by about a third.

The centre will also feature “technology translator” who will liaise with NHS specialties and businesses in a bid to identify new business opportunities.