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A revolution in healthcare diagnostics

31/10/2003

"Roger's idea is a wonderful example of a simple innovation that could make a huge impact."

Mr Roger Armour, an Honorary Consultant Surgeon from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, will receive £10,000 in prize money and his idea will be fast tracked through NESTA's Invention & Innovation programme, the largest source of early stage seed funding in the UK, for possible further funding of up to £100,000 to take the technology to the next stage of development.

Ophthalmoscopes are used by physicians to examine the retina at the back of the eye. It is a powerful and useful clinical skill that is completely painless for the patient but essential in diagnosing diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts as well as a host of unsuspected diseases of other parts of the body affecting the eye. These include: high blood pressure, diabetes, leukaemia, brain tumours, hardening of the carotid arteries, cerebral malaria and the tragic shaken baby syndrome, which may be revealed to the trained observer.

With 30 lenses to manipulate and a dozen settings, current ophthalmoscopes are complicated to use, expensive and difficult to carry. As a result, most medical students cannot afford to buy them and many doctors never learn how to use this potentially life-saving instrument properly.

Roger's simple new design can be made significantly cheaper than standard ophthalmoscopes using basic materials and weighs only 30g so is easy to carry in a pocket or purse. It provides a service as good as current instruments but has no complicated settings or lenses to trouble the user.

It has also been successfully tried by over 300 doctors, nurses and non-medical people and won an award at the 2003 Oxford Ophthalmological Congress.

NESTA Chairman Chris Powell, who presented the award, said:

"Roger's idea is a wonderful example of a simple innovation that could make a huge impact and I am delighted to present him with the NESTA award at this year's Medical Futures.

His ophthalmoscope could revolutionise education and training in medicine, giving students an inexpensive and easy to use tool that they can carry everywhere with them. This will give them the chance to practice and perfect their technique in this essential skill without having to be confined to a clinic and could benefit doctors and patients for years to come."

Medical Futures Innovations Awards