Specialist infusion company, CME Medical, has announced a partnership with InterVene to help health trusts meet new National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) guidelines for safer neuraxial devices.
The guidance states that, from 1 April 2013, all epidural, spinal and regional anaesthesia infusions and bolus doses should not be performed with devices that will also connect with intravenous equipment. This will prevent fatal mix-ups with intravenous and spinal-routed medicines.
To help address this change, the partnership means all CME Medical epidural administration sets will in future incorporate InterVene Surety connectors designed to minimise wrong route errors and ensure NPSA compliance.
Based on a non-Luer, neuraxial system, Surety products have been fully validated and are already widely used within many products in the NHS supply chain for a variety of applications.
“We are delighted to be partnering with CME – one of the leading suppliers of epidural infusion systems,” said Matt Root, managing director of Intervene. “I believe we are well positioned to respond to the inevitable clamour for non-Luer products when the NPSA deadline arrives. By developing strategic partnerships with established device manufacturers, we have been able to accelerate the introduction of the Surety system and broaden the choice of safer products available on the market. Uptake of Surety in hospitals has been impressive and even though the NPSA alert is yet to kick in, already over 70 UK hospitals have converted from Luer to Surety.”
Andrew Churnside, sales and marketing director of CME Medical, added: “We are committed to patient safety and always aim to ensure all of our infusion products fully comply with the recommendations of the NPSA. By partnering with InterVene we are confident we comply with the guidance to minimise wrong route medication incidents.”
