Availability of Elvie Trainer could help reduce NHS annual spend on urinary incontinence

Aug 7 2018

NHS Supply Chain has emphasized the importance of conservative management for stress urinary incontinence, by making available an at-home biofeedback device for pelvic floor muscle training.

32% of women have urinary incontinence and their treatment costs the NHS £233 million annually. Stress urinary incontinence is the most common form of urinary incontinence, comprising 78% of cases. In 70% of stress urinary incontinence cases, symptoms can be reduced or eliminated by pelvic floor muscle training. However, 30% of women can’t exercise their pelvic floor correctly with written or verbal instruction alone .

Usually retailing at £169.00, Elvie Trainer is now available through NHS Supply Chain at no cost to the patient. Elvie will be working with established NHS partner, Eurosurgical Ltd, to roll-out the relationship nationally. The user places the device inside her vagina and it connects to the app on the smartphone or tablet; she receives biofeedback through the app and is guided through a fun five-minute workout that has been designed with experts to give the pelvic floor musculature a full workout.

Comparing women’s health physiotherapy supported by a biofeedback device to women’s health physiotherapy alone, the biofeedback device helps improve patient technique and compliance resulting in an increase in success rates by 10%, a reduction in surgery rates by 50% and a reduction in cost by 35% - this equates to a saving of £424 per patient head in the first year. Research presented at the International Continence Society annual conference 2017 found that 80% of the women who used Elvie Trainer to treat a problem saw improvements and 98% did so in less than 6 weeks.

I am delighted that the Elvie Trainer is now available via the NHS Supply Chain. It is a beautiful product, simple to use and the immediate visual feedback directly to your phone screen can be extremely rewarding and motivating. It helps to make pelvic floor rehabilitation fun, which is essential in order to be maintained."

Miss Clare Pacey, Specialist Women’s Health Physiotherapist, Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

The availability of Elvie Trainer through NHS Supply Chain represents the opportunity to reduce costs to the NHS and improve outcomes for patients. This is the first single-patient biofeedback for long-term use to be available to NHS patients, which will enable improved compliance between hospital visits and thereafter. Especially in light of recent events, we’re thrilled that the NHS is investing in tools to support conservative management of stress urinary incontinence and mild-moderate prolapse.”

Hannah Rose Thomson, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Health, Elvie

We are delighted to begin a new relationship with Elvie and look forward to a long partnership distributing the Elvie Trainer in the UK. This pelvic floor exercise tracker complements our range of medical devices offered to the modern women’s healthcare provider enabling new standards and better cost savings to improve the quality of life.”

Peter Parker, Managing Director, Eurosurgical Ltd

Elvie have presented their research at eight conferences internationally, including at the International Continence Society annual conference 2017 on Elvie Trainer user improvement as measured by patient reported outcome measures. Elvie Trainer is available through hospitals and clinics in over ten countries and is recommended by over 1000 health professionals, including obstetricians and gynaecologists, women’s health physiotherapists and midwives. Elvie has received more than 12 awards to date for innovation and design and Elvie’s founder and CEO, Tania Boler, was named as a Porter Magazine Woman of the Year 2016 and won Innovator of the Year at the FDM Everywoman in Technology Awards.