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COVID-19 has had a worldwide impact on both members of the public and doctors. One of the main risks to ENT surgeons and Speech and Language therapists is that examining the nose and throat with an endoscope (Nasendoscopy – the principal tool for diagnosis and assessing the impact of treatments) is known to put clinicians at a significantly increased risk of contracting the condition.

When clinicians carry out a ‘nasendoscopy’ it can make patients cough, sneeze, and splutter – which risks spreading the virus to doctors, nurses and therapists. So advice has been to stop most of these procedures for now. The trouble with this approach is that important diagnoses, such as cancer will have a high chance of being missed. In 2018 some 500,000 nasendoscopies were performed in the UK alone, at present we are probably only performing 8 % of this. Each time it is performed it is at risk to the clinician, each time it is not performed there is a chance of misdiagnosis or delayed treatment for the patient. There is therefore an urgent need to be able to get back endoscoping patients safely.

We have designed a new product with the aim to keep clinicians safe and so better able to deliver high quality care to their patients – Meet the SNAP.

SNAP Introduction

Chris Coulson CEO introduces SNAP

The SNAP device clicks directly onto a conventional surgical mask. It creates a hole in the mask through which an endoscope can easily pass. The patient then wears the mask and aligns the internal aspect with their nose, the clinician can then endoscope the patient. On withdrawal of the endoscope, there is a one-way valve that closes the hole. Any coughs, splutters or sneezes during the procedure are caught within the mask which is disposed of at the end. We envisage this device will reduce the risk for clinicians and help us get back nasendoscoping patients and delivering high quality healthcare. 

SNAP in Action

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