Timestrip’s newly-launched Timestrip I.V. product has achieved positive feedback from its recent trials at the Whittington Hospital in London, at the same time as the company has announced the appointment of a UK distributor for the product.

Timestrip I.V. is designed to enable quick assessment of how long an intravenous cannula has been in place, ensuring hospitals comply with infection control procedures. Existing policy directives stipulate that Peripheral Intravenous Cannulae (PVCs) must be changed every 72 hours.

The Whittington introduced Timestrip I.V. to a pilot medical ward between 1st May and 13th June, during which routine inspection of Timestrip I.V. was incorporated into the Trust’s existing cannula inspection policy. During the trial period, the ward maintained a 100% compliance rate with the inspection policy and positive feedback was received from nursing staff and patients alike about the information offered by Timestrip I.V..

The Trust believes that nursing time could be saved by using Timestrip I.V., avoiding the need for staff to compile and refer to written records. The trial concluded that co-locating Timestrip I.V. with the cannula would offer the greatest benefits, allowing both the cannulated site and the Timestrip I.V. display to be checked in a single observation.

In the meantime, Timestrip has appointed Vygon (UK) Ltd as its main distributor for Timestrip I.V. products in the UK and Ireland. Vygon is a leading supplier of single-use medical and surgical products, including intravenous access devices, to the NHS. In the UK alone there are over 40 million venepuncture and cannulation procedures a year and Vygon will make Timestrip I.V. available to hospitals through the NHS Supply Chain from the end of July.

Vygon also intends to include Timestrip I.V. as a component in a new cannulation pack to be launched in the coming months and will sell Timestrip I.V. to other manufacturers of intravenous access devices and cannulation packs, ensuring the widest possible availability to the NHS and private hospital groups.

Deborah Wheeler, Director of Nursing & Clinical Development at the Whittington Hospital, confirmed the success of the Timestrip I.V. pilot: “We are very pleased with the preliminary findings. A focus group with nurses will feed back on some basic design changes and after that we are considering asking our suppliers to include Timestrip I.V. as a standard component in their cannulation packs.”

Les Davies, Managing Director of Vygon UK, says Timestrip I.V. is a natural fit for them: “We have been very impressed by the innovative nature of this product and the positive feedback it has received, both in pilot studies and from a wider audience of stakeholders in the NHS.  Vygon’s proven strength in this market will help Timestrip I.V. to achieve its considerable potential.”