A medical technology developed in Newport News is becoming easier to put beside hospital beds across the United Kingdom.

ivWatch, which develops continuous monitoring technology designed to detect potentially harmful IV complications earlier, has been awarded on to the NHS Supply Chain Framework via the Disruptive Innovation Pathway, creating a streamlined procurement route for NHS organizations across the UK.

This development represents another step in the international expansion of a Hampton Roads company that has spent more than a decade developing technology around one of healthcare’s most common procedures.

But the significance isn’t that ivWatch is entering the UK for the first time.

The company expanded into the UK in 2023 and its technology has now been deployed within NHS Trusts for more than two years. This award via the disruptive innovation pathway makes it easier for NHS Trusts healthcare organizations interested in adopting the technology to purchase and implement it through an established and compliant procurement route.

For ivWatch, it removes another potential barrier between proving the technology works and getting it beside more hospital beds.

Peripheral IVs are used routinely to deliver medications and fluids, but complications can occur when fluid intended for a vein instead leaks into surrounding tissue. Known as infiltration or extravasation, those events can result in injuries ranging from relatively minor complications to severe tissue damage.

ivWatch’s technology uses optical sensors and an algorithm to continuously monitor tissue surrounding an IV site and alert clinicians to changes that could indicate a problem.

The company’s experience within the NHS has also provided clinical evidence to support broader adoption.

A study at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust examined ivWatch’s technology in an NHS infusion unit. During its initial phase, researchers monitored 214 peripheral IV sites across 206 infusions. The system detected all 15 infiltration events before clinicians could visually identify them, according to the study.

The evaluation was later expanded to more than 2,200 monitored IVs and 3,500 hours of monitoring.

That clinical evidence is increasingly being paired with an economic argument.

Earlier this year, ivWatch partnered with global professional services firm Aon to examine the financial consequences hospitals face when IV infiltration and extravasation injuries become severe.

Using healthcare claims and cost data, Aon developed a model examining costs ranging from additional treatment and longer hospital stays to professional liability exposure and workflow disruption.

Under assumptions used in the model, preventing severe events could produce annual hospital margin impacts ranging from $5.1 million to $13.4 million depending on the hospital and patient population, with an estimated return of roughly seven to 14 times the cost of implementing continuous monitoring.

“When serious IV injuries occur, hospitals are often blindsided by a cascade of clinical and financial challenges,” ivWatch President Erin Wendell said when the findings were released. “What starts as a routine procedure can quickly escalate into catastrophic outcomes for patients, clinicians, and healthcare institutions.”

The NHS milestone comes as ivWatch increasingly moves from developing and validating its technology toward broader commercialization.

Wendell was named president in 2025, with responsibility for the company’s strategy, commercialization efforts and innovation roadmap. The company has continued expanding internationally and last year received European Union Medical Device Regulation certification supporting continued sales across European and other international markets.

Its growth has also drawn attention beyond healthcare. In 2024, ivWatch competed at Virginia Cup before advancing to the Startup World Cup finals in San Francisco, where it finished third globally.

Now, more than two years after establishing a presence in the UK, ivWatch has another pathway to put technology developed in Newport News into hospitals thousands of miles from Hampton Roads.