Professor Keith Greene, Consultant obstetrician and Dr Robert Keith, technologist, were discussing how to take forward 10 years of research undertaken at the Plymouth Perinatal Research Group based in the maternity department of Derriford Hospital.
The story first began when the Plymouth Perinatal Research Group came into being in July 1989 under the Directorship of Professor Greene. Robert Keith was the first, and at that time, the only research worker. The vision was to look at how new technology could improve patient monitoring during childbirth. The group had no support funding but certainly had the joint good will of Plymouth Hospital’s NHS Trust and the University of Plymouth.
We used new technology to look at ways of improving the interpretation of fetal monitoring during childbirth. We developed computer based training software to help improve skills and we developed a decision support system to interpret fetal monitoring in real time and support subsequent clinical management.
The computer based training was evaluated in a scientific controlled trial and was found to be able to significantly improve the knowledge of clinicians. The decision support system was invited to go on a 10 year exhibit at the National Science Museum.
Having obtained a PhD and following a fellowship post, Dr Robert Keith left the Perinatal Research Group in 1996 with his wife, two year old son and 6 week old baby to work in the USA for Corometrics Medical Systems as a Senior Staff Scientist specialising in fetal monitoring during labour. Corometrics had about 50% of the global market share in fetal monitoring products. That was the day job. The night job was to continue to work with the Perinatal Research Group remotely.
K2 Medical Systems came into being in August 1999 when the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Hospital’s NHS Trust transferred ownership of all IPR generated by the Perinatal Research Group into the company in return for a small shareholding.
The work then commenced to convert the research into real products that could be sold. We had to learn how to market and sell them, and to run a business that generated enough money to sustain the required personnel.Our work is far from complete. We have a number of development programs underway that we believe will make significant breakthroughs and represent our greatest achievements in both medical software and patient monitoring devices in the next 12 months. We are also gearing up for a major product launch into the United States with our current portfolio in 6 months time.