This year’s MediWales Connects conference in Cardiff brought together over 450 delegates, 105 speakers, and 45 exhibitors for a powerful day of knowledge exchange and collaboration across health, academia, and industry.
Representing Pd-m, our CEO Richard Hall was invited, on the day, to speak during a key session on the IQ Endoscopes Challenge, focused on addressing carbon reduction in the care pathway through design and innovation.
Spotlight on Sustainable Innovation
We were proud to see our collaborative work with IQ Endoscopes Limited take centre stage. While the device is single use, its thoughtful design delivers significant carbon savings across the patient care pathway.
Richard shared how design-led innovation can be a powerful enabler of carbon reduction, cost savings, and improved patient outcomes. He stressed that sustainability shouldn’t be seen as “another thing to deal with” but as a strategic driver — and the IQ Endoscopes team are a leading example of this mindset in action.
This project is poised to:
Reduce patient waiting lists
Relieve pressure on the healthcare system
Increase clinical efficiency
Reduce anxiety and trauma for patients awaiting diagnosis
All while remaining commercially viable — reducing carbon and cost without compromise.
The session featured voices from across the innovation and healthcare ecosystem, each sharing different lenses on how meaningful innovation takes hold:
Zoe Hilton, Innovation Manager at Cardiff and Vale UHB, opened the session with the case for adopting innovation in healthcare.
Owen Wilce, Public Service Innovation Manager at Cardiff Capital Region, highlighted how the project contributes to local economic impact and job creation.
Sam Salisbury, Procurement Business Manager at NWSSP, spoke on value-based procurement and the importance of agility in adopting new solutions.
Tom Kahan, CFO of IQ Endoscopes, underscored how real innovation comes from true collaboration, shared ambition, and strong leadership.
Jennifer Waterman, Surgical Registrar at Cardiff and Vale UHB, emphasised the importance of getting to the coal-face early to understand user needs in depth.
Richard’s contribution focused on the importance of embedding design thinking early — to reduce carbon, meet regulatory requirements, and improve adoption.
Here is the session recording if you want to learn more.
MediWales Connects offered much more than stage time — it was a great opportunity to reconnect and meet new faces:
Great to catch up with Al Mills, Debbie Laubach, and Emma Williams
First-time meetings with Michael Beddard (Cedar), Martyn Lewis, Joy Browning, Kate Williams (SBRI), Katie Saddleton, and Mike McMahon (Royal Academy of Engineering)
Thanks to the organisers for an inspiring event — and to Gwyn Tudor for opening with powerful insights on the Welsh Life Sciences sector, which now includes 288 companies, an annual turnover of £2.62 billion, and over 12,000 employees.