Smith & Nephew to pilot digital wound care solution, supporting Life Sciences Sector Deal

Smith & Nephew (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN), the global medical technology business, welcomes the Life Sciences Sector Deal released today and announces an innovative wound care programme to support implementation.

Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, said:

“The UK has a unique and world-class healthcare system with significant potential to utilise medical technology in new ways to improve clinical outcomes and efficiency. Through the closer collaboration between healthcare providers and suppliers envisaged by the Sector Deal, we can deliver benefits to the NHS that can then be implemented in other health systems.”

Smith & Nephew is developing new programmes that utilise digital technology alongside its pioneering surgical and wound management products with the aim to improve the patient experience whilst delivering better outcomes at lower cost.

In wound care, Smith & Nephew is to pilot a new solution addressing the cost of wound care for community nursing. This is estimated to account for 66% of district nurse time, costing each of the more than 200 Clinical Commissioning Groups (‘CCGs’) an average of £50 million per annum by 2020¹. Working with partner Inhealthcare, a leading provider of digital health technology, this includes a new digital tool to support frontline community and practice nurses with point-of-care decision-making support, to standardise best practice.

Over a three-year period, this programme is expected to:

• Drive significant improvements in patient outcomes, resulting in shorter treatment duration and more wounds healed
• Release significant nurse resources, allowing them to cope with growing patient numbers in the community, estimated at nine full time nurses per CCG, and reduce the total costs of wound care per CCG
• Provide proof of principle that allows the approach to be exported to international health systems.

These improvements will be driven by earlier and more systematic intervention designed to reduce unnecessary dressing changes, avoidable infections and unacceptable delays in healing. 

Smith & Nephew is a global leader in advanced wound management working to help our customers get closer to zero surgical site complications, pressure ulcer incidence, delay in wound healing, diabetic foot amputations, and waste of healthcare resources. Our portfolio includes exudate and infection management, negative pressure wound therapy, and bioactive products. In 2017 we opened a new R&D centre in Hull and announced a long-term partnership with the University of Hull to create one of the world’s largest Wound Care Research Clusters. 

Enquiries

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping healthcare professionals improve people's lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities, Smith & Nephew has around 15,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries. Annual sales in 2016 were almost $4.7 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN).

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our website www.smith-nephew.com, follow @SmithNephewplc on Twitter or visit SmithNephewplc on Facebook.com.

^{Forward-looking Statements}

^{This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith & Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls or other problems with quality management systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption to our supply chain or operations or those of our suppliers; competition for qualified personnel; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith & Nephew's expectations.}

^{◊ Trademark of Smith & Nephew.  Certain marks registered US Patent and Trademark Office}