A family have praised a local company for helping to keep their children alive.
Debbie and Andy Mace from Worksop said a monitor developed by Tutum Medical in Chesterfield helps them to have some life back as a family, alerting them only when a piece of critical lifesaving medical equipment, alarms unexpectantly.
Kia and Nial, two of Debbie and Andy’s children are 7 and 8 years old respectively and both suffer from untreatable Mitochondrial disease. Both children are fed nutrients and medication from various 24-hour infusion pumps which require around the clock monitoring.
Debbie Mace explains how they came across this new alarm monitoring system, “We heard about BEAMS (Bedside Equipment Alarm Monitoring System) when both the children were being monitored by the system in Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Once the children were back at our adapted home, we were constantly listening out for medical devices alarming. One person had to stay with them all the time. No nurses would come out to us as the machinery was too complicated.
“The hospital kindly put us in touch with Tutum Medical to see if they could adapt the hospital system for us at home,” continued Debbie, “It took two years to adapt for our home, but well worth the wait, we feel more relaxed and calmer and can spend quality time with the other children, we get more sleep and feel less tired. We are very grateful and thankful that such a small monitoring device is making such a big difference, we feel reassured and would recommend it to others in a similar situation.”
The multi-award-winning BEAMS acoustic monitoring system comprises of two wall mounted monitors, one next to each child, a speaker unit on the landing stairs and a Wi-Fi unit by the front door with its own modem. Each wall mounted monitoring device constantly listens for specific alarm signals from the critical medical equipment and only alerts the family if there is an issue. Since the system was installed, the average response time to an alarm is now 2.2 minutes during the day.
BEAMS is currently in operation permanently, or being trialled across hospitals in the UK, improving response times to all alarms by up to 84% for improved patient outcomes and experience, with better staff workflow to release more time for nursing and reducing pressure on staff. The system was recently judged as being ‘Innovation at its finest’.
For more information call 01246 819100 or visit https://tutummedical.com/beams-at-home/