Helping the NHS reduce pressure ulcers

Christopher Kennedy, a young entrepreneur from Purley, has just established a business, Imago Care, that procures the latest medical technology to distribute to the NHS, hospices, nursing homes, and individual community based customers.

His flagship product, Parafricta, a frictionless fabric is the first proven answer to the key nursing goal identified by EPUAP (European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Board), namely to "protect against the adverse effects of external mechanical forces: pressure, friction and shear on skin".The 25 yr old explained: "It is wonderful to be a part of a product that will revolutionalize the way to prevent pressure ulcers, treat dry skin conditions like eczema, keep wound dressings in place that are dislodged due to friction and to help gain these sufferers a better quality of life."

"Pressure ulcers cost the NHS around 2 billion every year and now there is a product that can reduce this cost dramatically. The fabric boasts properties that have already gain recognition by London's Science Museum. It has a coefficient of friction close to that of ice, almost as strong as steel, breathable, inert and can be washed up to 160 degrees with out losing any of its properties. "Parafricta™ Fabric products have been evaluated by more than 15 NHS sites in the UK including Great Ormond Street, where trials were conducted on children with fragile skin due to Epidermolysis Bullosa.

The results have confirmed that the garments and bedclothes prevent skin breakdown and progression to clinically detrimental pressure ulcers.Imago Care has also procured other leading products that aid in the treatment of chronic and acute wounds. For more information please call 0208 668 6084 or visit www.imagocare.com.

PARAFRICTA - Frictionless Fabric

Technology is rapidly developing in every market from computers to talking baby dolls. And even over the last 10 years fabrics have come such a long way. I have been lucky enough to experience the birth of Parafricta (www.parafricta.com) a frictionless fabric developed into a range of products to protect and prevent the elderly, bed ridden and people with disabilities from forming pressure ulcers by eliminating the friction and shear forces. For more information please visit www.imagocare.com. For wound management please visit www.wita-imagocare.co.uk

Indications

a) The prophylactic avoidance of Pressure Sores in vulnerable patients

These products are the first proven answer to the key nursing goal identified by EPUAP (European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Board), namely to "protect against the adverse effects of external mechanical forces: pressure, friction and shear on skin".

Parafricta™ Fabric products offer unique protection against two of these, friction and shear, and are compatible with all existing methods of mitigating the effects of pressure, e.g. pressure reducing mattresses and beds.

Variation in friction coefficient with sliding distance

More than 15 NHS sites in the UK have already evaluated our products. These include Great Ormond Street, where trials were conducted on children with fragile skin due to Epidermolysis Bullosa, as well as hospices, nursing homes, and individual community based customers. The results have confirmed that the garments and bedclothes prevent skin breakdown and progression to clinically detrimental pressure sores.

b) The prevention of displacement of chronic wound dressings

Many chronic wounds are initiated by frictional shearing of compromised skin in cardiovascular compromised, diabetic or bed-confined patients. Friction often dislodges and "rucks up" wound dressings that are in place to treat an ulcer, as the patient moves about in the bed or chair. With most materials, static friction is greater than moving friction. This causes a jerk or "snatch" when one surface begins to move against another, which results in damage to skin or displacement of a dressing. Parafricta™ fabric can be used to avoid this effect. A significant feature of Parafricta™ fabrics is that the static and moving friction coefficients are equal.

Wound dressings are expensive to replace in terms of cost per dressing and time spent by nurses cleaning the adhesives from around the wound. Aggressive adhesives that would keep these dressings in place also have a downside: They cause shearing of the already weak skin and expansion of the existing wound trauma, thus creating the need for larger dressings and more adhesive to keep them in place.