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.