| We are pleased to share news about this exciting partnership with S-MED in the United Kingdom. Now part of the SOS Oxygène group, S-MED is a leading supplier of sleep equipment and services to NHS Trusts and to private healthcare providers. The company leverages Vestalis to meet the changing needs of the market by providing an efficient solution for remote monitoring of sleep apnoea patients treated with CPAP. Interview with Nuno Cachada, a clinical scientist specialising in sleep physiology, who was recently appointed Managing Director at S-MED. What characterises the UK market for sleep apnoea treatment? |
 Nuno Cachada: “Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is still a major health concern in the United Kingdom. Compared to the French market, sleep apnoea management in the UK is very much hospital-centred. Manufacturers usually ship their medical devices directly to hospitals. But there is a shift happening. Home care is an ever-growing market, more and more patients are diagnosed with sleep apnoea and it is becoming difficult for health departments to manage them all, because their resources are limited. Thus, companies such as S-MED step in to provide them with logistical and clinical support. |
| In this context, what are the objectives of your partnership with Vestalis? Our main goal is to streamline the patient treatment journey and improve team efficiency, without disrupting the existing organisation significantly. Thanks to our collaboration with Vestalis, we allow health departments to remotely manage their OSA patients within a single platform. Therefore, hospitals can see more patients and focus on clinical care. Remote management also reduces the need for patients to travel to the hospital. Together with Vestalis, we initiated another project a couple of years ago, dealing with remote diagnostics for sleep apnoea patients. Through a joint development, we completely embedded our diagnostic pathway within Vestalis Vision. We can now offer a seamless solution, making it easier for patients to track their progress from referral to diagnostics, then move on to therapy and follow-up during the therapy. How is Vestalis Vision contributing to your growth? Telemonitoring is on the rise in the UK. As an interoperable platform, Vestalis Vision provides us with the flexibility we need to manage more patients. Once customisation according to our specific requirements is complete, the platform will enable us to grow even more on the UK market, by improving our efficiency. The Vestalis team is very open to our feedback, and is also very proactive, suggesting solutions from their own experience. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. How do your customers perceive the Vestalis Vision interface’s benefits in practice? Our clinical team previously worked in hospitals, so we understand our customers’ needs, and we see the benefits of using Vestalis Vision as much as they do. The general feedback is very positive; customers like to use the platform for two main reasons. Firstly, they appreciate being able to find everything they need in one place, instead of using several software platforms. By removing layers of complexity, it makes the process more efficient and reduces the number of errors. Secondly, they can trust the platform as a medical device that combines reliability and compliance with regulations. In addition, the platform is quite intuitive and easy to use. It is both complex in the way that it covers all aspects needed, and simple enough to make it user-friendly.” |