Hemel-based Draeger Medical UK and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust have signed a pioneering three-year strategic partnership that will see the organisations work together to develop and explore next-generation medical technologies designed to improve patient care and clinical outcomes.
The agreement, the first of its kind between Dräger and an NHS organisation, establishes a long-term strategic partnership focused on collaboration, innovation and the future of healthcare delivery, intending to support key NHS priorities, including accelerating digital adoption, delivering more care closer to home, and shifting the focus of healthcare from treatment to prevention.
Bringing together frontline clinicians, technical specialists and Dräger’s world-leading healthcare technology research and development engineers, the partnership will create opportunities to explore new solutions and technologies across critical areas of healthcare, including anaesthesia and perioperative care.
As part of the collaboration, clinicians from Guy's and St Thomas' will work directly with Dräger's research and development teams at the company's global headquarters in Lübeck, Germany, helping to ensure future technologies are shaped by real-world clinical expertise and the evolving needs of patients and healthcare professionals.
Designed to support the NHS's long-term ambitions for healthcare transformation, the strategic partnership creates a flexible model for innovation that can evolve alongside the needs of the Trust, allowing both organisations to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities in patient care.
Toni Schrofner, Dräger Board Member and Chief Officer of Dräger’s Medical Division, comments: "For more than 135 years, innovation has been at the heart of Dräger. This partnership represents exactly the kind of collaboration needed to address the increasingly complex challenges facing healthcare systems around the world.
"By working closely with one of the United Kingdom's largest and leading NHS trusts, we have a unique opportunity to combine clinical expertise with our leading research and development capabilities to create technologies that improve patient outcomes and support healthcare professionals in delivering the highest standards of care.
"We see this as a partnership built not only for today's challenges, but for the needs of future generations, reflecting our values as a fifth-generation family-owned business with a history of healthcare innovation.”
Julian Kelly, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said: "At Guy's and St Thomas', we are committed to embracing innovation that enables us to deliver the very best care for our patients and also to support our staff in their increasingly demanding roles. This agreement creates a framework for long-term collaboration, allowing us to work alongside Dräger to explore new technologies and approaches that could transform healthcare delivery.
"By bringing together our clinical expertise with Dräger's global experience and technical capabilities, we can help shape solutions that support better outcomes for patients, improve efficiency and ensure our services continue to meet the changing needs of the populations we serve.”
Victoria Roberts, Sales and Marketing Director, Draeger Medical UK, adds: "What makes this partnership particularly significant is its long-term focus. In a world where there is often pressure to address short-term or immediate challenges, this agreement creates the opportunity to work together on innovations that can deliver meaningful benefits for patients today while also investing with the aim of helping to shape the future of healthcare for generations to come.”