A SCOTTISH company which has developed a device worn on the upper arm that provides a cuffless blood pressure estimation and monitors respiration rate, temperature, oxygen saturation, motion and heart rate, has raised £2 million.

Dunfermline-based Waire Health, launched in 2018, plans to use the funding to scale up its sensor technology, which is designed to “improve remote ward monitoring and reduce hospital readmissions”.

The firm intends to increase its staff numbers from 10 to as many as 30 this year. It aims to expand its management team, and production and product development capabilities, while accelerating expansion in overseas markets including North America.

READ MORE: SNP Prestwick Airport backing pays off, with critics quieter

The £2m included investment from St Andrews-based Eos Advisory and backing from economic development agency Scottish Enterprise.

Dave Hurhangee, chief executive and founder of Waire Health, still owns the majority of the business after the funding round, a spokesman noted.

Mr Hurhangee began developing wearable technology for radiation monitoring on Ministry of Defence nuclear submarines based at Rosyth in the 1980s.

He said: “If you can operate a monitoring device from a submarine, that gives you a strong foundation to build for applications across multiple sectors and environments...We’re now branching out into sectors outside healthcare, so that will be part of our next phase of growth.”

READ MORE: Brexit: Now we can all see politicians who are really out of touch

Waire Health’s remote patient monitoring device, “C-Detect”, operates in hospitals and homes autonomously, through continuous real-time monitoring and advanced artificial intelligence. Developed at the firm’s Dunfermline head office and made at a facility near Edinburgh, it has undergone extensive trials with the University of California.

READ MORE: Brexit: Amid red wall pandering, some common sense from Labour

Waire Health has partnerships with institutions ranging from global healthcare organisations to national governments.

Mr Hurhangee said: “The whole area of care at home got pushed over the edge during Covid. What many companies didn’t fully appreciate was the paramount importance of usability. If devices have to rely on mobile connections or Bluetooth, they become difficult to use from the outset, for both patients and healthcare providers. We bring design and detail from years of experience of working with the technology, and our devices fall back to cellular if wifi falls off.”