Peezy wins BEST OF SHOW and Best Industrial Product Design at Design Week Awards 2009
04.03.09
British designed and manufactured Peezy, the elegant, compact new urine collector for women, last night won Best of Show, fighting off stiff competition from the Apple MacBook Air.
Peezy also came top within its own Industrial Design category.
Peezy is a revolutionary device that brings tangible hygiene and infection control benefits to the notoriously messy and undignified process of urine sampling for women.
Lynda Relph-Knight, Chair of the Judges said: “We have an outstanding Best of Show winner in the Peezy, a device that makes it easier for women to give urine samples. Developed by manufacturer Funnelly Enough, this may not be a glamorous product but it fulfils a real need with a no-frills design that is highly appropriate for its function.”
The Judges said: “It is great to see design doing its job so well and touching the lives of so many people.”
It is rare in creative awards that a highly functional product takes top billing. Pure aesthetics are too often the deciding factor. This is not the case with the Design Week Awards, where projects are awarded for their ability to do the job. This year, the judges have reinforced their stance by giving the top accolade to a user-friendly medical device.
The Peezy by Funnelly Enough, was developed by Dr Vincent Forte in response to problems encountered by female patients when asked to deliver a mid-stream urine sample. The funnel-shaped device has a cellulose sponge at the base, which swells after the first 10ml of urine, allowing the mid-stream flow to be caught in a standard universal container.
Dr Vincent Forte, inventor and Medical Director of Funnelly Enough said: ”These Awards have made our journey to market worth every step. I am totally delighted. From a medical perspective, Peezy helps to clean up hospitals and surgeries at the most basic level, offering massive infection control and hygiene benefits together with the ‘gold standard’ mid-stream sample which can improve the quality and speed of diagnosis. These Awards reinforce the quality of the device.”
Giovanna Forte, Managing Director, said: “Peezy has already elicited a great response from both NHS and Private Sector customers and to win Best of Show as well as our own Industrial Design Category is further testament to the efficacy of the product. The bigger picture embraces patient care, hygiene and all-important cost savings for the NHS.”
By eliminating the often contaminated ‘first burst’ of urine, Peezy reduces the need for costly retests. Data from PASA points to potential savings of around £2 per patient experience. With an estimated 50m samples delivered by women annually, this could lead to savings for the NHS of around £80m.
Clinical Trials are currently taking place at Guy’s & St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Hospital Trust.
Visit: http://www.designweek.co.uk/Articles/141503/Urine+collection+device+wins
ENDS.