The University of Liverpool has secured £1.8m to test a device for postpartum bleeding and launch a new women’s health studio.

The PPH Butterfly is designed to help control postpartum haemorrhage, which is severe bleeding after childbirth and a leading cause of maternal death worldwide.

The funding will support research into how the device can be used in clinical practice and generate evidence to inform its wider adoption.

The university has launched the Women’s Health Innovation Studio, known as the WIN Studio, alongside the project.

The £1.8m initiative is predominantly funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is providing £1.5m, with additional support from the university.

The PPH Butterfly project will involve a multi-centre clinical trial across the UK and a global feasibility study looking at how practical it would be to use the device in different healthcare settings.

The WIN Studio is led by Andrew Weeks, professor of international maternal health care at the University of Liverpool and a senior investigator at the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and Dr Teesta Dey, a tenure track fellow in the department of women’s and children’s health.

Dr Dey will also lead the PPH Butterfly project.

Its work will cover conditions linked to female biology, including endometriosis, menopause and pregnancy-related complications.

It will also support technologies for diseases that affect women differently or disproportionately, even when they are not usually classed as gender-specific conditions.

Dr Dey said: “Women’s health has often been marginalised within healthcare systems and innovation markets, resulting in treatments, devices and care models that fail to adequately account for women’s specific needs. WIN Studio seeks to change this status quo and reconfigure how health technologies are conceived and delivered.

“The funding from NIHR for this £1.8m project is precisely the kind of innovation the WIN Studio exists to foster: clinically urgent, women-centred, and with the potential to save lives at scale.”

The studio recently hosted an event at Liverpool Women’s University Hospital as part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Innovation Investment Fortnight.

Seven innovations are currently undergoing clinical testing through the studio, with three developed internally.

The studio will work closely with NHS University Hospitals Liverpool Group and provide clinical, regulatory and commercial support to people developing women’s health technologies.

It will also involve patients and members of the public in shaping research priorities and product development.

Its wider programme includes collaborations involving clinicians, engineers, economists, academics and policymakers.

The project team says the PPH Butterfly is a simple, low-cost device designed to control severe bleeding quickly and with minimal training.

According to the team, postpartum haemorrhage causes around 70,000 deaths globally each year, equal to about one death every seven minutes.

The device previously received £1.1m in funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

The latest £1.5m grant will support a randomised UK trial, in which participants are allocated to different treatment groups by chance, and a global feasibility assessment.

Weeks said: “In an area where women face deep health inequalities, WIN Studio has a vital role to play. By working in partnership with the NHS, local government and communities, we can ensure that research leads to real-world impact.

“Liverpool has a highly integrated ecosystem of academic, clinical and commercial expertise. By bringing these together under a single platform, the WIN Studio aims to act as a national exemplar for equitable health innovation. Transforming the way medical technologies are developed is essential to addressing gender disparities in healthcare outcomes.”

Another product supported by the university, the LifeStart Trolley, has already reached commercialisation.

The small mobile resuscitation trolley allows newborn care to be carried out at the bedside while the baby’s umbilical cord remains intact, enabling delayed cord clamping.

Delayed cord clamping means waiting before cutting the cord so blood can continue flowing from the placenta to the baby after birth.

Clinical trials conducted around 10 years ago found that life-saving care could be provided successfully at the bedside using the trolley.

It was later commercialised by Inspiration Healthcare and is now used in more than 70 UK maternity units and in 36 countries, including Norway, Italy and the US.

System C has completed the national rollout of BadgerNet Maternity across all seven NHS Health Boards in Wales. This is the first time any UK nation has unified its maternity care under a single digital record and patient-facing app.

With approximately 26,000 babies born annually in Wales, BadgerNet connects maternity information across organisational boundaries in the country.

Expectant parents can access their records, maternity appointments and key updates digitally through a single app, wherever they receive care while clinicians have secure access to the right information at the point of care.

The national three-year agreement across all Heath Boards replaces a patchwork of separate local systems and eliminates the need for paper hand-held notes.

Anthony Tracey is director of digital at Hywel Dda University Health Board, the final of the Welsh Health Boards to go live with BadgerNet.

He said: “The rollout of BadgerNet across Wales is a vitally important step forward in modernising our maternity services and providing a consistent service across the country.

“By giving expectant parents direct access to their information and enabling clinicians to share data more effectively, we are strengthening safety, transparency and consistency in maternity care nationwide.”

For expectant parents, the single digital maternity record transforms how they engage with their care.

Instead of carrying paper notes and repeating information at every appointment, parents can access key details, appointments and updates digitally, supporting more informed conversations and shared decision-making.

The result is greater transparency, fewer administrative frustrations and a more joined-up experience throughout pregnancy and into the postnatal period, regardless of which health board they fall under.

For clinicians and Health Boards, the joined-up approach reduces duplication and streamlines handovers across teams and sites. Information is digitally captured once and made available securely wherever it is needed, helping to minimise errors, reduce time spent tracking down notes and support more efficient multidisciplinary working.

At a national level, linking maternity data across Wales creates a foundation for safer, more consistent care.

Aggregated, standardised information enables earlier identification of trends and variation, supports evidence-based policy decisions and enhances long-term service planning.

With a comprehensive view of maternity activity and outcomes across the country, Wales is now better positioned to raise standards for parents, babies and families.

Guy Lucchi, managing director of healthcare at System C, added: “Delivering a truly national approach across all seven Health Boards is a significant achievement for Wales.

“One shared system means information flows with the patient, not the organisation.

“That reduces duplication, supports earlier identification of risk and frees up valuable clinical time.

“Crucially, linking maternity data at a national level provides powerful insight to drive improvement. Health Boards can benchmark, plan services with greater confidence and ensure resources are targeted where they are needed most, while expectant parents benefit from clearer communication and a more connected experience of care.”