COVER STORY - ADVE RT I S ING FEATUR E
Celebrating half a century of design
Anetic Aid has come a long way in 50 years. During that time, the company has supported the move towards day surgery, as well as helping to drive efficiency and reducing the risk of manual handling injuries.
This year, British clinical equipment manufacturer, Anetic Aid, is celebrating quite a milestone: it is 50 years since the roots of the company were first established by an enterprising engineer who spotted an opportunity to open a workshop fabricating stainless steel medical furniture in Hampshire on the south coast. There were no sophisticated electronics or space-age materials back then – but the principles of good design and high-quality manufacture were there at the outset, just as they are today.
The man behind the great idea was Ivor Schofield, the late father of current Anetic Aid CEO Guy Schofield. Ivor, a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, had experience in aeronautical and naval businesses, latterly as Joint Controller of Engineering. But that wasn’t enough for Ivor: he wanted his own business – the chance to realise his potential and use his flair for design, his engineering expertise, drive and determination to overcome obstacles and take an idea from the drawing board through to a practical solution in the real world.
Another major piece of the jigsaw was his relationship with fellow entrepreneur, Tom Brady, who was already selling the medical furniture as part of a range of instruments
and other medical supplies. It was Tom who coined the name ‘Anetic Aid’ when they forged a business partnership which was to last until Tom passed away in 1993. Like any emerging company, there were good times and tough times in the early days – and the big break came in the early 90s when the company’s collaboration with King’s College Hospital produced Britain’s first dedicated day surgery trolley.
How the QA4 Mobile Surgery System evolved Called the ‘KCH’ after the hospital where it was developed, it was the forerunner of the QA4 Mobile Surgery System, which is seen today in hospitals all over the UK – and increasingly across the world. But back then, same day surgery was
very much a new concept; with six specially designated theatres, it was the biggest unit in Europe and visitors from all over the world came to look at the King’s College Hospital approach to day surgery.
A pioneering group, led by surgeon Mr
Paul Baskerville, was behind the project – as he told Anetic Aid back in 2013: “I had been Registrar to Mr Paul Jarrett, one of the founders of the British Association of Day
VOLUME 22 l ISSUE 1 l JANUARY 2023 THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL
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Surgery (BADS) and was convinced that day surgery was the way forward. Getting funding to build a new unit of this kind was a tremendous opportunity. “In order to drive efficiency, we looked
at two particular aspects – the first was to have all of the nursing staff able to work everywhere in the unit on rotation, which required a specialist training programme. “The second was to find a way of abolishing the practice of transferring patients from bed to trolley, trolley to operating table etc – and that is what led to the idea of a piece of equipment that could be both transport trolley and operating table.” Paul Baskerville and Jill Solly, who was day unit manager at the Trust at the time, were part of a small group tasked with equipping the whole of the unit, so they set out to find a manufacturing partner who had the skills and vision to develop their idea of a dedicated day surgery trolley.
Some of the early tourniquet systems 6 l
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Guy Schofield had recently joined the family business at its manufacturing site in
JANUARY 2023
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