Welcome to the Health Matters’ case studies series, where we will be speaking to the business leaders who have successfully used our programme to take their product or service to new heights in the health and care sectors.
In this blog, we catch up with James Maddocks, director at Radwraps LTD
Founded in 2013 Radwraps set out to revolutionise the radiator industry by developing alternatives to radiator covers and cabinets using specially formulated magnetic sheets. The company has now looked to diversify and has developed two innovative projects using this technology for the benefit of the NHS and care sector.
These projects are – dementia friendly ambulances, and Post-Ease, an eco- posters system to eradicate harmful plastic laminating sheets.
Tell us about your projects?
We are passionate about reducing carbon emissions and want to help organisations such as the NHS in reaching their net zero targets. It’s amazing to know that they are the single biggest user of laminating sheets and plastic waste; and that every 1,000 sheets laminated by the NHS emits 42.17kg of CO2, compromising its bid to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions. What we have developed is a way for the NHS to reduce their carbon emissions by replacing laminate sheets with ecofriendly posters.
Dementia care is central to our other project. Sadly, dementia is growing at a staggering rate – we wanted to use our knowledge and expertise in innovative print technology coupled with years of research into how emotive and sensory images can be through our work in producing antimicrobial coated innovative wall graphic systems to help reduce the anxiety dementia patients can have whilst in ambulances.
Basically, we developed dementia-friendly images that provide a less stressful environment for patients during ambulance journeys with calming graphics systems. The less stressful an ambulance journey the less nursing time needed afterwards. Dementia patients are currently arriving at hospital and firstly need nursing support from the journey before they are treated for the condition they came to hospital with, thereby creating a bottleneck in A&E, and higher waiting times.
How did your company find out about the Health Matters programme?
We become aware of the Health Matters programme as we have worked with Andy Cairns at the Innovation Agency over the years. We have also been involved with different collaborating partners from Liverpool John Moores and University of Liverpool.
As a company who innovates it’s important for us to keep up to date on all the programmes of support that exist regionally and nationally.
What challenges was your company facing prior to receiving support? What do you think the main barriers are for using emerging technology?
We began as a company producing innovative solutions to radiator coverings to pivoting this technology to help one of the largest sectors in the UK.
We saw a need in the NHS for our technology to help reduce carbon emissions and support those living with dementia – two very different projects and a world away from what we originally set up to be.
We needed help and support to do this!
So, key for us were introductions to relevant industry professionals. To be able to explain and pitch our ideas to those key stakeholders has been invaluable to us. We will also be outwardly looking for investment and the support will help us get in a healthy investable position.
I think what we have found is that awareness to emerging technology is key… but you can have the best tech in the world but if no one knows about it then useless. That is why being part of a programme such as Health Matters and the opportunities it has brought us via Andy as well as the team at LJMU has been critical in opening doors and introductions in the NHS and care setting.
What support did your company receive and how was it delivered?
At the start advice and information on how we can develop our projects was essential – it was crucial for us to talk to people like Andy Cairns with his knowledge and expertise to help and support us while we develop our ideas.
The team at Health Matters has helped us research our product offering, produce a plan for the business to enable us to take both projects forward, and given us guidance on how we can take this further, both nationally and internationally. The team have also given us access to relevant people within the NHS.
We are now working with the team at LJMU who are developing Real World Validation studies for the two projects. We are hoping this will begin later in the year. This support will be essential for us to take our products forward and help us provide evidence on how they can make a difference. It’s such an exciting time for us to be working with the LJMU team.
What new activity was your company able to do as a result of the support?
The support from Health Matters has helped us grow our product range within the healthcare industry as well as continue to develop our existing projects with technological advances and university collaborations.
We have been able to employ several local staff and create a world leading industry hub within the Liverpool City Region.
What impact did the support have?
The support we have received has had such a fantastic impact that we can really quantify with results and further projects.
Both projects are in priority sectors where even the smallest of changes can make a huge community impact for generations to come. The support we, as a company, receive now will help us to help others reduce carbon emissions making a better environment for our kids and change lives for dementia patients.
What are your company’s plans as a result of this support?
We plan to grow both projects, establish the Liverpool City Region as our permanent base to provide international solutions in the dementia sector and help the NHS make a real difference in reducing their carbon emissions. As a nation (and across the world) we know so little about dementia. We will be making ground-breaking research into how we can make a difference. Creating an imagery dementia centre is the very start, we intend to grow this to other sensory areas and continue to innovate from the core.
We also plan to move into the education sector and raise awareness off the current plastic pollution problem. Schools, education, and the food industry also have extremely high usage of harmful plastic laminating sheets – our aim is to eradicate the single-use landfill-only laminating sheets.
Would you recommend the programme to other SMEs?
I would recommend the programme 100%, to have expert minds and information on hand is the only way SMEs will grow.
The Health Matters programme was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund to support local businesses, with innovative solutions, to access the health and care markets.
By providing bespoke, one-on-one assistance, we help businesses hone their products and services. Through real-world validation we demonstrate their practical and commercial benefits.
