Innovation uncovered: From a simple idea to safer hospital sinks

An interview with David Chapman Jones and James Soothill by Lucy Brock, who leads the Innovation Kickstarter Programme.

When Dr James Soothill, a consultant microbiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), came up with a simple idea to help prevent harmful bacteria spreading from hospital sinks, he had no idea how challenging it would be to turn it into a product.

His story is not just about the innovation itself, but about what happens after that first promising idea, and the support needed to turn a prototype into something that can make a difference for patients.

Important innovations start with frontline observations

Dr James Soothill’s Aseptiflow is an award-winning solution to a deadly problem: it breaks the chain of transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from sink U-bends, to people. Bacterial transmission from the environment to people is a problem for all of us, but for James’ patients, it can be fatal.  James told us, “I work in a hospital that’s full of extremely vulnerable children, for whom these bacteria can pose a life-threatening risk.”

James described to us how Gram-negative bacteria dwell in wet places. Although this cannot be prevented, James realised that there may be a way to stop the bacteria finding their way back into the sink: “I was looking at [the sink] through my door and I could see a U-bend. And I was thinking, well, how do we get that U-bend separate from the top?”

The solution was a trip to his local plumbing dealership. He bent some copper pipe and fit it to a sink. It was an elegant and promising solution, but with a prototype in hand, it was very unclear what the next stage was, or how he would get there.

The hardest part was not the idea

After conversations with clinical colleagues, his children’s friend’s parents, angel investors and industry contacts, he met David Chapman-Jones, Head of Business Development at GOSH. David could see the challenges ahead: “the sort of obvious things we needed were [the] money to be able to manufacture it, money to do a proof of concept [and] we talked about a patent, which was critical to protect what James had invented”. David describes the experience of obtaining these things as “trying to navigate your way in the dark through a system that isn’t there”.

It became clear to David and James that they would need help from outside of their hospital to turn this idea into a true solution, one deployed in hospitals up and down the country and beyond.

Support changed what was possible

Aseptiflow is now being manufactured and distributed to hospital sinks all over Europe under a commercial license held by a multinational company and can boast the first patent filed by GOSH. This is a success story, but it wouldn’t have been if David and James hadn’t had support from experts in tech transfer.

They found the help they needed in Health Tech Enterprise who were able to support with grant applications, patent filing and commercial partnerships. It was still a struggle: deadlines for filing patents nearly lapsed, funds were scratched together at the last moment and navigating the governance and processes of even a world class hospital was a challenge. Thanks to the support of industry and experts in commercialisation, this innovation found it’s route to market. Aseptiflow is now returning revenue to both hospital and inventor: NHS patients, NHS staff and NHS institutions are benefitting from this home-grown innovation.