A product invented by a hospital engineer and nurse to keep patients’ beds tidy has been so successful it’s now available to buy online.

The Bedhead Tidy was developed by nurse Emma and former biomedical engineer Steve after they were concerned with the messy storage of tubing and cables hung by patients’ beds causing contamination issues and avoidable additional costs.

Funding support through the Innovation team meant it was developed, tested and trialled and is now available for other health and care providers to buy.

Steve, who has now retired but worked as an electro-biomedical engineering operational manager at ESNEFT, said: “This is such a great step for the simple and cost effective Bedhead Tidy. It was many years in development, so to see the Bedhead Tidy in the market place to help improve patient safety felt like a massive achievement – but to have the product available to other healthcare and care providers is fantastic.”

Steve and Emma worked with the Innovation team for support, expertise and funding through Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity across areas such as financial costing and design protection.

Emma, who is now head of resuscitation services at ESNEFT, said: “When you’re working in healthcare it means you have to adapt all the time to the needs of the patient. The Bedhead Tidy seemed such an obvious idea, but it’s great we had the support to develop it and now we can fit it to all beds across the Trust to help staff and therefore patients to make time matter.

“It’s a simple device and helps us do our job. It’s also cost saving as prevents wastage from items that are no longer able to be used and have to be thrown away. Every penny counts.”

Through the Innovation team, the duo also had support by Health Tech Enterprise, who were able to provide advice around intellectual property rights and were able to lead the negotiations for the licensing agreement to help bring the device to market.

In addition, they have played a vital role in providing strategic advice to enable prototype development and trial testing of the Bedhead Tidy in real-world settings. This ensured that the Bedhead Tidy could transition seamlessly from concept to market launch.

The Bedhead Tidy is available in three different designs for hospital beds, specialist care beds (neonatal and critical care) as well for the beds in the community offering versatility to suit various healthcare settings.

Dr Karen Law at Health Tech Enterprise said: “We are thrilled to have played a pivotal role in bringing this innovative solution to life. The Bedhead Tidy exemplifies the power of collaboration and underscores our commitment to supporting NHS innovation. It’s a simple yet brilliant idea that will significantly benefit both patients and healthcare teams – and an excellent example that innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech to make an impact.”

The Bedhead Tidy is now available on the Walters Medical website.