Noctura 400
Timeframe: 2010-2021
Funding: Northern Way
Healthcare services are facing increasing challenges relating to chronic illnesses especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; these include increasing costs, lack of nurses and clinicians, and lack of resources especially in rural areas. Self-administered medical technology innovation can both empower patients and reduce the cost of healthcare services.
Globally, there are approximately 148 million people with diabetic eye disease, the leading cause of blindness for working age adults (Keenan et al., 2013). Current physician administered interventions include regular injections into the eye (over £13,000 p/a) and laser treatment (over £7,800 p/a) both are costly and invasive.
The Noctura 400 sleep mask was developed in collaboration with PolyPhotonix ltd and is underpinned by a multiple perspective problem framing method (English 2010). It provides a low level, controlled wavelength nocturnal light source, which offers a non-invasive treatment for diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular oedema (DME), this saves the patient multiple surgical procedures and significantly reduces the cost of DR and DME treatment services. The design is patented in Europe, China, USA, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Canada and South Korea and is the subject of a REF2021 impact case study.
