• 352 women have been admitted to hospital for further monitoring

• 1,118 women have safely been discharged from hospital without the need for an admission

Data from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ( NICE ) shows that the average hospital stay for a woman with suspected pre-eclampsia is 4.8 days . Based on a cost of £ 345 a night , we calculate that the NHS in our region has avoided £ 1.8m of costs in bed days during the last financial year thanks to PlGF testing . This saving also means that clinical resources are freed up for other patients who need them .

Transforming quality of life for cluster headache sufferers

Around 66,000 people in the UK experience a cluster headache , with three times more men likely to develop the condition than women . Described by clinicians as being more painful than kidney and gall bladder stones and even childbirth , cluster headaches can be extremely debilitating .

We have been proud to support health trusts across the region to successfully implement gammaCore – a remote device that sends mild electrical stimulation through the skin into the neck to activate the vagus nerve from outside the body , thereby alleviating symptoms of severe cluster headaches .

Before gammaCore , treatment included medication or invasive procedures with management of cluster headaches costing the NHS more than £ 10,000 per patient . For 5 % of patients , standard care is not enough or deemed unsuitable .

We have helped seven trusts in the region to implement the device so far . Out of 78 patients who trialled it , 43 are now using gammaCore as a preventative treatment for cluster headaches and this has improved their quality of life immeasurably .

With the advent of NHS England ’ s new MedTech Funding Mandate policy ( which replaces the ITP this year and includes these two innovations as well as HeartFlow and SecurAcath ) we will continue to aid the spread and adoption of these products throughout the region , ensuring our NHS providers are aware of the products and are well placed to effectively and efficiently implement them into their care pathways .

Some of the impacts from the PlGF programme :

38 Transforming Lives Through Innovation