Ferno’s new Critical Care Trolley applauded by NHS Trusts as potential life saver

Ferno’s latest critical care trolley has been hailed as another life saving innovation to help critically ill heart patients across the south of England.

Clinicians and health specialists from Surrey welcomed the unveiling of Ferno’s latest Balloon Pump Transfer Trolley which has been 12 months in development and incorporates the crucial life saving systems necessary when transporting pre & post op heart patients.

The CCT Balloon Pump will radically improve care for patients who, following a cardiac arrest, need to be transferred for specialist treatment. The first of its kind, Ferno worked closely with dozens of clinicians and health experts from several NHS Trusts and Heart Care Units on the concept and design.

It is already attracting interest from across the UK with Dr Peter Clarkson, consultant cardiologist at Frimley Park Hospital calling it “state-of-the-art”.

The trolley offers a host of additional extras that have been engineered to help patients with coronary heart disease, angina or those who have had a heart attack. Many of these patients undergo an angioplasty procedure, where an intra aortic balloon pump is fitted. The pump helps maintain blood flow to the heart and helps stabilise the patient so they can be transferred to a specialist centre for cardiac surgery, or in some cases a heart transplant.

In the past, following surgery, these patients would be transferred by ambulance on a standard patient trolley but this raised issues with the balloon pumps in situ in vehicles, loading and accommodating ventilators, as well as other essential monitoring systems.

Ferno was approached by the Surrey Wide Critical Care Network, clinicians, heart experts and partners from across the local NHS to come up with a solution to support patients and make it easier for ambulance staff to tend to the patients.

Dr Peter Clarkson, consultant cardiologist at Frimley Park Hospital and clinical cardiac lead for Surrey’s Heart and Stroke Network explains: “Together, we decided we could do more to support these critically ill patients on transfer to a specialist centre for expert heart care. Clinicians from local clinical networks, Surrey’s acute hospitals, the South East Coast Ambulance Service and NHS Surrey came together really to raise the standards for heart patients, both in Surrey and nationally.

“The specially designed trolley includes the latest technology to enable clinicians to constantly monitor a patient’s condition, helping to ensure these vulnerable patients get the best possible care when they need it most. It will also enable ambulance crews to transfer patients quickly and easily and there will be no need to disconnect the equipment at any time during transfer, significantly reducing the risk of complications.”

Ferno’s Managing Director Jon Ellis said: “Nothing like this has been developed before and our R&D team rose to the challenge to deliver a product that specifically met the client’s exacting brief and could have long term benefits for heart patients across the UK. We are already getting interest from other NHS trusts wanting to place orders.”

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital NHS Trust and Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have already taken delivery of the new trolleys.

Head of Business Development at South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb), Darren Reynolds added: “The new equipment will make a real difference when transferring patients. The specially-designed trolley will make these vital transfers of critically-ill patients safer. ”

The following organisations were all involved in the development of the BPT Trolley: Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Hospital Trust, Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Surrey, South East Coast Ambulance Service, Surrey Wide Critical Care Network, Surrey Heart and Stroke Care Network and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.