British manufacturer Mediplus was founded by Bob Urie at his home in 1986. The company was set up originally to create a dedicated range of urodynamic disposables for the UK market by working hand in hand with Southmead hospital in Bristol.
This philosophy of working closely with clinicians to develop products has allowed the company to steadily expand its range and global reach, amassing a number of key milestones along the way.
While the first Mediplus range of products was developed for the urodynamic market, over the last 34 years the company has used its expertise in manufacturing to develop and launch products for other key clinical areas. This includes Anaesthesia, Gynaecology & Urology
Today the company develops a wide range of innovative, patient centred medical devices, exporting to over 40 countries. Based in High Wycombe, the family business – now a global company – is primarily focused on developing single use disposable medical devices that meet the needs of patients and clinicians worldwide.
Emma Gray, Managing Director, explains: “Mediplus is a family-owned business that has been supplying the healthcare sector with innovative patient centric products for over 30 years.”
“As a company, we always continue to strive for the product that will make the difference; developing innovations that are less traumatic and invasive for the patient, whilst improving the use for the clinician.
“Through medical device innovation our aim is to improve patient care. We do so by working with global healthcare professionals to develop new and high-quality medical devices that benefit patients and health providers alike.”
Bringing new innovations to market
Over the years, Mediplus has worked closely with clinicians to develop, manufacture and bring to market 15 new innovations – each focused on raising the standard of patient care and safety.
This includes the launch of the world’s first non-invasive pressure flow study system - the CT3000, designed to accurately predict Bladder Outlet Obstruction; and more recently, the launch of their unique IV administration sets, designed to allow clinicians to access a variety of pumps and deliver fluids in a safe manner.
In 2017, their breakthrough catheter insertion kit – the Mediplus S-Cath™ System, (dubbed ‘a GPS for the bladder’) – received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s most prestigious business accolade, under the Innovation category. The devices enables an easier and safer method of introducing a Foley catheter suprapubically.
The accolade followed the company’s Queens Award for International Trade in 2013, recognising their achievement of increased year on year export sales growth for the previous six years.
James Urie, Sales & Marketing Director said: “Our company has an excellent development pipeline of new and innovative medical devices. Mediplus continually searches out ideas to keep the company at the leading edge of technology and clinical practice. We always welcome discussion with any clinician who has an idea they wish to develop.”
Growth and development
Since its humble beginnings, Mediplus has evolved into a global, award-winning company, marking a number of successes along the way: Two Queens Awards, one for Innovation (2013) and the other for International Trade (2017) and Silver Investors In People Award
In October 2015, the company officially opened their own manufacturing facilities, fulfilling their owner’s long held dream – who initially began the business warehousing products and despatching them from his garage.
Today the company sells direct to end-users in the United Kingdom and to more than forty countries internationally through a network of carefully selected distributors.
Mediplus holds CE mark, ISO 13485 certification and has FDA approval for a number of products. The company’s innovations are marketed throughout Europe, in the USA and Canada, South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East.
To find out more visit www.mediplus.co.uk
