RBR legflow™ are finalists in the Huntingdonshire SME Business Awards 2025, in the category for Innovation. Everyone at RBR legflow™ are extremely proud to have been nominated, and to be a finalist in this prestigious category. Our press release on this nomination is below.

BLOOD CLOT SURVIVOR AND DRAGONS’ DEN WINNERS LIFE SAVING PRODUCT IS FINALIST IN THE HUNTINGDONSHIRE BUSINESS AWARDS 2025 – FOR INNOVATION

A man who has been called the; “Luckiest unlucky man in Cambridgeshire” who dropped to the floor dead from a deadly blood clot has launched a medical device that aims to save lives from Thrombosis by preventing deep vein thrombosis, and his business has been nominated for the Huntingdonshire SME Business Awards, for innovation.

Paul Westerman suffered a massive pulmonary embolism – the result of a deep vein thrombosis – in 2011 and has spent the last fourteen years researching the condition and working with experts within respiratory and thrombolytic medicine.

Now the 58-year-old, in conjunction with leading clinicians and a world-renowned product designer, has created the RBR legflow™ – a simple medical device which significantly helps improve venous blood flow from the lower limbs of individuals when seated.

“Globally one in four people die from causes related to deadly blood clots and this costs the NHS over £200 million every single year. But clinical research reveals many blood clots are entirely preventable.

“With this in mind, we would like to see the RBR legflow™ available in every hospital, care home, work place, air plane, gaming environment, and environment where an individual is likely to be sedentary for more than an hour.”

Paul collapsed after a minor knee injury left him immobilised for several days.

A clot, the size of a man’s thumb, had travelled from his leg – destroying the valves in the deep veins in his thigh as it went – passing through his heart and blocking both pulmonary arteries with coagulated blood.

The clot had then moved on to fill the blood vessels of the lungs, so only a trace (the width of a piece of sewing thread) of oxygenated blood could flow.

He said: “Sadly the majority of people who suffer a massive pulmonary embolism do not survive. The reality is that my lungs and heart will never fully recover, the deep veins in the injured leg will never support natural blood flow and I will be on medication to keep me alive for the rest of my life.

“Facing this reality has not been easy. But I feel like I have a purpose – to try to boost awareness of this condition and do whatever I can to prevent others from going through this nightmare.”

Since 2011, Paul has built relationships with other survivors and their families, along with the bereaved. He has also offered his personal experience to inform changes in medical policy.

In 2013, Paul became a trustee of Thrombosis UK and in 2014 he was appointed as a committee member of The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in its examination of thromboembolic diseases.

Last year, he joined a pulmonary embolism study (initiated by the NCEPOD), working to identify avoidable and remediable factors in the management of patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism.

The RBR legflow™ is the result of an inspired collaboration between Paul and eminent medical professionals in the field of thrombosis.

Paul also appeared on series 19 of the hit show the BBCs’ Dragons’ Den, and successfully pitched the medical device to the Dragons’ During the pitch, Dragon Peter Jones talked about his own personal trauma of suffering a pulmonary embolism after a flight back from Los Angeles. During the broadcast Peter stated that; “Every airline, and every care home should have the device.”

Paul says after being nominated; “As an SME in Huntingdonshire, to be recognised, especially amongst other such incredible organisations, is a testament to everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve at RBR legflow™”.

Innovation in business comes in so many shapes, sizes, and forms. The RBR legflow™ is one of the simplest, most cost effective, medically proven medical devices associated with the prevention of thrombosis. Its innovation is in its’ simplicity, and design. The technical innovation is born from the clinical research and clinical trials that are the very foundations of this amazing device. Proven to increase lower limb venous blood-flow by over 10-fold while the user is sedentary, and all by using the body’s own natural circulatory system, the RBR legflow™ is truly one of the most innovative medical devices designed in decades.

Key facts:

• The cost of thrombosis to the NHS is estimated at over £200 million a year.
• Globally this is a cost to health service providers of more than £22 billion each year.
• More than 60% of all cases of VTE are associated with hospitalisation, with many events occurring up to 90 days after admission.
• VTE affects approximately one in 1000 of the UK population and is a significant cause of mortality, long-term disability and chronic ill-health problems.
• In Europe, there are 544,000 VTE-related deaths every year.
• In the U.S. and Europe, VTE-related events kill more people than AIDS, breast cancer, prostate cancer and motor vehicle crashes combined
• In the UK, up to 60% of VTE cases occur during or after hospitalisation, making it the leading    preventable cause of hospital death
• Hospital-acquired blood clots cause an estimated 25,000 preventable deaths each year
• The RBR legflow ™ is approved and registered with the MHRA and GMDN
• The RBR legflow™ is made with an antimicrobial ingredient
• The RBR legflow™ is 100% recyclable

For more information visit: www.rbrlegflow.com As part of the awareness campaign set up by RBR legflow™ 4 campaigns have been implemented to raise awareness of thrombosis. #FlySafe #GameSafe #WorkSafe and #CareSafe