A Witchford-based company has developed a new system that will minimise the amount of unused or wasted oxygen purchased by a hospital.

Nexus Intelligent Engineering (Nexus IE) has helped global healthcare leaders Linde Healthcare to develop and manufacture a system that can help hospitals manage their stock of medical oxygen cylinders more efficiently.

The system can wirelessly transfer data on their location, current contents and status to be displayed on a dashboard app on a computer or tablet.

Simon McKay, of the company, said: “The problem is mobile oxygen cylinders are typically only used for short-periods to treat patients suffering from breathlessness after an illness and are often spread out across multiple wards, departments and buildings.

“And the cylinders move around the hospital as patients are transferred from one department to another so it can be difficult to keep track.”

However, with the new system, “it means that hospital staff will not need to physically locate and check each cylinder,” he added.

“They can see at a glance how long the contents will last to the nearest minute.”

Nexus IE specialises in building small batches of complex electromechanical products and is

supports companies when they are gearing up for field trials, or developing their own plans for small-scale manufacturing.