Smith & Nephew hails Wound Care Sector Deal

Smith & Nephew, the global medical technology company, welcomes the announcement by the UK Government of the Wound Care Sector Deal within the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.

The Wound Care Sector Deal is an agreement for the NHS and industry to work together to harness digital Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools to reduce variation in treatment of wounds. This is expected to deliver significant improvements in outcomes by healing more wounds more quickly and reducing dressing costs and nurse time.

Smith & Nephew, and its partner digital health provider Inhealthcare, are piloting a multi-platform digital application designed to reduce variation in practice by community nurses by enabling consistent wound assessment and treatment recommendations in real-time.

Lord O'Shaughnessy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, said:

“I applaud this commitment from industry to provide the NHS with the digital tools that can revolutionise the way wounds are assessed and treated. Such partnerships, based on the rigorous application of evidence and technology, have the potential to improve patient care in the UK and showcase our world-class wound care companies like Smith & Nephew across the world.”

The NHS treats more than two million wounds each year, costing around £5 billion¹, comparable to the costs of treating diabetes or obesity. Healing wounds is resource intensive, requiring nearly 30 million nurse visits per annum¹. 

Simon Tarry, Managing Director, Smith & Nephew UK, Ireland and Nordics, said:

“It is broadly accepted that reducing variation in practice is key to improving outcomes. This means consistently getting the most appropriate treatment and technology, to the right person, at the right time, in the right place. We are proud to have been instrumental in bringing key stakeholders across the NHS, government and industry together to meet this challenge.”

Over the next three years Smith & Nephew has committed to investing £10 million into UK-based wound care research, including validating ‘proof of concept’ in pilot clusters in support of this initiative. The application can be used alongside other digital technologies such as MolecuLight i:X^TM Imaging Device, distributed by Smith & Nephew. This easy to use, handheld imaging device instantly measures wound surface area and visualises the presence and distribution of potentially harmful levels of fluorescent bacteria in wounds.^2,3

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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 2017 were almost $4.8 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.

To learn more about what we do to help reduce the human and economic cost of wounds, please visit www.closertozero.com

About Inhealthcare

Inhealthcare is a UK leader in digital health and remote patient monitoring.  It has developed the Inhealthcare digital toolkit to help clinical teams build their own digital health services for any area of care at scale, speed and low cost. Inhealthcare has worked with clinicians to build a library of more than 50 services to support long-term conditions including heart disease, lung disease, hypertension, diabetes, undernutrition and smoking cessation.  Inhealthcare is highly secure, scoring 100 per cent on the Department of Health Information Governance Toolkit Level 3 and is ISO27001 and ISO9001 accredited. Inhealthcare has rolled out digital health services in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the North East, the North West, the Midlands, East Anglia and the Home Counties. Inhealthcare offers communications channels that are inclusive for all patients, regardless of ability, including SMS, app, online, voice and Amazon Alexa. For more information https://www.inhealthcare.co.uk/

^{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.}

^{TM MolecuLight i:X is a registered trademarks of MolecuLight Inc in Canada, the US and the UK.}