Award for Innovation in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain | Association of Anaesthetists

Award for Innovation in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain

Award for Innovation in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain 2024

This award, sponsored by Ultramed - MyPreOp, recognises the importance of innovation in healthcare for the benefit of patient safety, patient care and improvements in the hospital workplace. 

For previous winners, the Award for Innovation has provided a springboard to enable the development and distribution of their innovation within the NHS and overseas. 

  • Entries are judged by a panel of experts in respective fields
  • Applications can be submitted in the following categories: new equipment, IT and digital innovations, new techniques or solutions for a problem, sustainable environmental impact and other novel innovations
  • Top scoring entries will be shortlisted and invited to present their work 

The Association invites applications for the 2024 prize for innovation in anaesthesia, critical care and pain. This prize is open to all anaesthetists, intensivists and pain specialists based in Great Britain and Ireland. The emphasis is on new ideas contributing to patient safety, high quality clinical care and improvements in the working environment.

The deadline for submission was 23:59 on Wednesday 27 September 2023.

Entries will be considered in 4 categories:

  • New product
  • IT and digital innovation
  • New technique or solution of a problem
  • Sustainable environmental impact.

Eligibility criteria - Open to all anaesthetists, intensivists and pain specialists based in Great Britain and Ireland. 

Frequency - x1

Funding partner - Association of Anaesthetists

This award has kindly been sponsored by Ultramed - MyPreop

2024 Award

The winner of the 2024 award is Mr Carl Walkden: Dynaseal advanced dymnamic self adjusting supraglottic airway device.

The following innovations were awarded runners up.

Dr Paul Greig, Mr Jacob Williams, Ms Debra Guest and Mr Tas Gohir: StopCheck technologyTM.

Dr Asela Dharmadasa, Dr Carlos Gomez and Mr Manish Patel: The TEEP connector: a device that aims to improve patient and staff safety by mitigating the release of infective aerosols and loss of positive-end-expiratory-pressure (PEEP), when critically- ill patients are switched between ventilators.

Previous winners

2023 Award

The winner of the 2023 award was Prof Brendan McGrath with Bubble-PAPR: Reinventing respiratory personal protective equipment.

2022 Award

The winner of the 2022 award was Dr Alistair Darwood with The IDAS Mask System (Inhaled Dynamic Analgesia and Sedation): A Novel Patient Controlled Analgesia and Sedation Mask.

2021 Award

The winner of the 2021 award was Dr Tim Craft (Somnus Scientific Limited) with Real-time blood propofol monitoring.

2020 Award

The winner of the 2020 award for Innovation in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain was Dr Sebastian Brown, Co-Founder and Research Director of  SageTech Automated Extraction Machine

 A unique process to capture, extract and purify inhalational anaesthetics such that they can be placed back on the market under licence. This will create the first ever circular economy for a pharmaceutical product in the UK. SageTech’s technology will reduce both the cost and the environmental pollution of anaesthesia.

You can find more details in the press release.

2019 Award

MyPreOp: online patient owned preop assessment  

Developed by Dr Paul Upton, CEO of Ultramed Ltd.

MyPreOp is an online preoperative assessment programme. When the patient is told they need an operation they are given access to create an account. They enter their information into MyPreOp and then share their information with their health care provider. Patients own their account and choose to share their information. Clinicians do not have access the account. This empowers patients and engages them in their care. If they need a further procedure they log back in, confirm their data is current and share it. This is the basis of a Personal Health Record.

2018 Award

Little Journey app: a novel virtual reality preparatory tool for children undergoing ambulatory surgery

Developed by Dr Chris Evans (University College London), Ramani Moonesinghe (University College Hospital), and Flora Roumpani (University College London)

Each year, over 500,000 children undergo planned day-case surgery in the UK. Around three-quarters of these children experience anxiety before surgery, linked with short-term distress and longer-term problems such as separation anxiety, nightmares and bedwetting.

As a potential solution, Dr Evans and his colleagues developed Little Journey, an interactive, smartphone app that uses virtual reality (VR) to prepare children aged 3-12 years old for their operation - all from the comfort and safety of their home.

Using a low-cost virtual reality headset, children can explore in 3D the ward, anaesthetic and recovery rooms they'll actually visit on the day of their operation.

They can select age-tailored animated staff characters to tell them about the hospital, and introduce them to the pieces of equipment they'll see in each area - familiarising and desensitising them to the hospital, so it's all less scary on the day.

The app is free to download from the Apple and Google Play stores, and takes 10-15 minutes to complete. With no ongoing hosting or maintenance costs, this sustainable solution is an exciting tool for every anaesthetist's anxiety management arsenal. The 2018 award was presented at the Association's Winter Scientific Meeting.

2017 Award

An oxygen reservoir for use in difficult environments by Robert Neighbour and Roger Eltringham (a team from Diamedica (UK) Ltd, assisted by the charity Safe Anaesthesia Worldwide). Read more about the oxygen reservoir in the May 2017 edition of Anaesthesia News.

2016 Award

Relax Anaesthetics by Dr Peter Brooks, Consultant Anaesthetist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Read an update on Relax Anaesthetics in the May 2017 edition of Anaesthesia News.

2015 Award

The Non Injectable Arterial Connector (NIC) by Dr Maryanne Mariyaselvam. Read about NIC in the May 2017 edition of Anaesthesia News.

2014 Award

SAFIRA - Safe Injection System for Regional Anaesthesia by Dr Emad Fawzy.

2013 Award

The Mobile Capnograph' by Safe Anaesthesia Worldwide.

2012 Award

Air-Free Drip Chamber' by Dr James Limb and 'Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anaesthesia with an Optimised Ultrasound Transducer' by Dr Graeme McLeod.