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While training on hospital wards Wendy noticed the amount of time and effort required to deal with patients with severe nose bleeds. She came up with a non-invasive device to stop the bleeds – a nose clip – the use of which requires less staff time and reduces the likelihood of a hospital admission. The device can also be used in sports, with children and in the home. “My current product is quite different to my original idea back in 2010,” she said. “But the feedback I received and the research I’ve carried out has refined the device and I’ve arrived at a design that I’m confident will work well when it’s trialled.”
Wendy was supported by Spark along the way. In 2010 she was awarded an enterprise scholarship and in 2013 she won two awards: first prize of £2,000 in the Pre-Start category of the Spark business plan competition and a special research award of £5,000 from Sir Peter Thompson in the annual enterprise awards. “The money has been a fantastic help in getting my device from idea to reality, but it’s all the invaluable advice and contacts that Spark provide that’s been really useful,” she said.
The next step is to produce a prototype of the device through Wendy’s company NASICE and then carry out trials.