{"id":1940427,"date":"2026-05-17T08:03:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T05:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1940427"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T05:03:58","slug":"southmead-hospital-celebrates-gentle-assisted-birth-device-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1940427","title":{"rendered":"Southmead Hospital celebrates gentle assisted birth device launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/118d\/live\/ca1f7c10-4948-11f1-b55d-0f258dce1735.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"NHSNHS North Bristol Trust\/ Maternal Newborn Health Innovations<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Parents who used OdonAssist said it supported their birth in the “calmest” way possible<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Women who helped test a newly-launched birth device invented by a car mechanic have said it provided a “desperately needed” alternative to “bonkers” outdated options invented in the 16th Century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A trial of OdonAssist, an inflatable air cuff used to guide a baby through the birth canal, began in 2018 at Southmead Hospital in Bristol and it was launched on 5 May. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Health officials said the tool, which was invented by an Argentinean mechanic to remove corks from bottles, has been used to deliver 300 babies in Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ella Radford, from Bristol, used OdonAssist and said it was a “lovely” experience to see her child born in a “calm way” with none of the marks synonymous with a forceps delivery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Hardly felt a thing’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Radford said she was “lucky” to have been able to see the first iteration of the device as part of her work as a midwife at the hospital and she immediately signed up to use it when she fell pregnant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said it was the “calmest way” she had ever seen a baby be delivered by an instrument and it left the baby with no marks, unlike forceps and ventouse deliveries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I had an epidural after my long slog [and] I hardly felt a thing,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It was just lovely. I would 100 percent have it again if it was an option. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Seeing so many different varieties of birth, it just seems different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It just makes more sense to inflate that cuff and push the vaginal muscle away from the baby instead of pulling on the baby’s head.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GeorgieGeorgie Jacobs<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Georgie Jacobs said she had a “gentle” experience with the OdonAssist while giving birth<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The only other option currently available is the ventouse, a suction cup placed on the baby’s head.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This can leave behind a mark or a bruise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Radford said instruments such as forceps and ventouse had been around for “such a long time” and had never been tested in a way that would be “accepted to today’s standards”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said: “Options are out there. More parents need to know about this.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Georgie Jacobs, 35, from Bristol said the devicemade her feel like she was still in control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Ventouse and forceps were invented such a long time ago so it seems absolutely bonkers that we have these methods that are so outdated now,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We basically use metal to pull a baby out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“When I saw the science behind the OdonAssist and how gentle it was I agreed to use it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I had to have an episiotomy to use it but I’ve been told since it’s gone through the trial they don’t always need to do that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GoogleGoogle<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Southmead Hospital was the first to test the inflatable device as part of a trial which began in 2018<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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She went on to say the experience was “much more gentle on baby and mum”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said: “It’s been so long since we’ve had new innovations in this field for women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Women have options when it comes to birth.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The device works by inflating and gently gripping the baby’s head to allow for an obstetrician to assist the birth, if needed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As the baby’s head is born, the device is then removed to allow them to take their first breath as normal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The device was invented by car mechanic Jorge Odon in 2006.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He based the idea on a party trick to extract a loose cork from inside an empty bottle and his idea was developed by a team of midwives, doctors, engineers and specialists in medical equipment over eight years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Initial testing of the device was carried out by the World Health Organisation in Argentina and South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2025, OdonAssist was awarded a CE Kitemark approval which confirmed that it was safe to be used in hospitals across Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NHSNHS North Bristol Hospitals Trust<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Health officials at Southmead Hospital said hundreds of “extraordinarily generous” women came forward to offer their support for the new device<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Dr Jo Crofts, consultant obstetrician at North Bristol NHS Trust, said at the start the team thought it would be “a challenge asking women who were about to have a baby to take part in something so new”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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However, she said hundreds of “extraordinarily generous” women came forward to offer their support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Thanks to their help we now have an alternative to forceps and ventouse, something which the women we care for tell us is desperately needed,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dr Emily Hotton, obstetrics and gynaecology resident doctor and investigator in the clinical trials, said she was “incredibly proud” of her team’s “phenomenal” work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The developers behind the device, Maternal Newborn Health Innovations, said OdonAssist would not available outside the UK and Europe until local regulatory approvals and clearances had been obtained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Bristol on <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>X<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via <\/i>WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cqlpd4y65xdo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/118d\/live\/ca1f7c10-4948-11f1-b55d-0f258dce1735.jpg”] NHS North Bristol Trust\/ Maternal Newborn Health Innovations Parents who used OdonAssist said it supported their birth in the “calmest” way possible Women who helped test a newly-launched birth device invented by a car mechanic have said it provided a “desperately needed” alternative to “bonkers” outdated options invented in the 16th Century. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1940427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1940427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1940427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1940427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1940427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}