A potentially life-saving system that monitors the vital signs of patients through a wearable device is being developed for use in hospitals with the support of Telford-based Protolabs’ European Cool Idea Award (www.protolabs.co.uk/about-us/cool-idea-award).

Moon Labs’ Evo System is an unobtrusive, wireless and affordable monitoring device that gives doctors and nurses regular updates on patients’ vital signs and can indicate if their health is deteriorating and requires intervention.

Protolabs engineers helped to develop the system for manufacture.

The Evo System has three elements: the Evo Sensor is a small disposable bio sensor that fits comfortably behind a patient’s ear, measuring heart and respiration rate and oxygen saturation continuously for up to five days; the Evo Gateway transmits this data to a patient’s electronic journal; and the Evo Central software enables doctors and nurses to track multiple patients’ vital signs over time and calculates early warning scores to highlight any health concerns.

Moon Labs had already prototyped the system using its own 3-D printing technology, but it needed to produce larger numbers for pilot testing and clinical trials.

Moon Labs co-founder Tord Åsnes said: “Protolabs advised us on the best medical-grade plastics to use and then produced an initial production run, which will be used for our pilot testing and clinical trials.

"Developing new medical devices takes time and is heavily regulated.

"Without the support of the European Cool Idea Award, the cost of funding this next stage of development could have proven prohibitive for us.”