Vein Finders – Thinking of Oscar

One of our earliest campaigns was to raise money for a vein finder device for Oxford’s John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital. The reason that we wanted to invest in this technology was that it looked like something which would have made a huge difference to Oscar’s experience in hospital. Procedures such as blood tests and the insertion of cannula’s can be extra tricky with small children because their veins are so small and sometimes harder to locate as their hands are a little chubby. Oscar therefore had to sit through many trial and error procedures where a doctor would try and get a needle into his hand or arm but fail because they were using instinct and the naked eye.

The reason that we wanted to invest in this technology was that it looked like something which would have made a huge difference to Oscar’s experience in hospital.

He had many experiences of having his hands and feet creamed (with a mild anaesthetic) and then needle after needle being put into him in the hope of finding a vein. Once a vein has been used it cannot be used again for some time and in severe cases, when all the veins on a child’s hands and feet have been tried doctors would then need to find a vein in their head.

We partnered with a company called Q Medical Technologies who are a UK supplier for a product called Accuvein and arranged a trial at the hospital. The technology assists in reducing some of the judgement required and helps to make the lives of children and their families that little bit more bearable in hospital. During the trial one doctor fed back to us that they had a child who they had tried to take blood from 7 times, failing each time. As soon as they used the vein finder they were able to complete the procedure first time.

The trial completed successfully and late in 2015 we supplied 4 units to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital. We have subsequently funded another 3 devices into the Oxford Children's Hospital (2018) and have also funded a vein finder into Great Ormond Street Hospital, London (2017).