How Owen Mumford develops safety devices to meet user needs

For more than 70 years, we’ve been at the forefront of medical device innovation. A key part of our ongoing success is our commitment to listening to and understanding the real challenges people face when being treated in hospitals worldwide. By working closely with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, we’re able to deliver comfortable, accurate, and, most importantly, safe medical devices—drawing on decades of manufacturing experience.

With the NHS facing some of the most intense pressures in its 70-year history and rates of burnout rising sharply since first being tracked in 2018, ensuring safe care is more essential than ever. Recent research published in the British Medical Journal found that “44% of trainee doctors and nurses regularly felt ‘exhausted in the morning'” and “26% of doctors said that tiredness had affected their ability to provide safe care.”¹ When symptoms of fatigue take hold, the chances of harm to both patients and HCPs go up—especially when it comes to risks like needlestick injuries (NSIs), something 69% of HCPs have experienced during their careers². That’s why we strive to make a meaningful impact through our medical devices. Our products are designed first and foremost to protect users.

The Unifine^® SafeControl^® is our active safety pen needle, built to give HCPs confidence while delivering a full medication dose, while also providing strong protection against NSIs. The active safety mechanism—engaged by pressing a manual tab—lets HCPs stay in full control, and after injection, the safety guard covers the needle, keeping users safe.

As a leader in capillary blood sampling device development for point-of-care testing, we fully understand the safety needs for this essential diagnostic step. Our Unistik^® Touch 16G activates with just a single touch—simply press it to the sample site and it starts automatically. After use, the needle retracts into the device to help prevent accidental reuse, cross-infection, or injuries.

Now, our new venous blood collection line builds on this experience in capillary sampling to offer HCPs a lineup of devices that ensure quality, comfort, and safety when drawing larger amounts of blood. Even a briefly exposed used needle can cause an NSI. The Unistik^® venous blood collection range, complete with our VacuFlip and ShieldLock products, features built-in safety mechanisms to help reduce NSI risks and promote safer blood collection.