North Bristol NHS Trust, Southmead Hospital

The Customer

North Bristol NHS Trust is one of the UK’s leading NHS trusts, providing specialist healthcare services across the South West. Through the Bristol 3D Medical Centre and Bristol Helmet Service at Southmead Hospital, the Trust delivers highly specialised reconstructive services, combining clinical expertise with advanced digital technologies to improve patient care.

The Bristol Helmet Service is currently the only NHS hospital service in the UK producing fully 3D printed cranial remoulding helmets for babies, helping treat moderate to severe cases of plagiocephaly and brachycephaly (commonly known as flat head syndrome).

The Challenge

For many years, helmet therapy relied on taking physical moulds of babies’ heads before creating plaster models from which custom helmets could be manufactured. While effective, the process was labour intensive, time consuming and uncomfortable for both patients and clinicians.

As the service continued to expand, the team recognised an opportunity to modernise its workflow by introducing a fully digital process. Their goal was to improve patient experience, increase treatment capacity and reduce the manual workload on specialist reconstructive scientists, while maintaining the highest levels of clinical accuracy and patient safety.

Crucially, any solution would need to support biocompatible materials suitable for prolonged skin contact, deliver exceptional dimensional accuracy and provide the flexibility to support future medical applications beyond helmet production.

The Solution

Having already demonstrated the value of additive manufacturing through smaller-scale projects, North Bristol NHS Trust developed a robust business case for expanding its 3D printing capabilities within the newly established Bristol 3D Medical Centre.

Working closely with Tri-Tech 3D as a trusted consultative partner, the Trust evaluated its technical requirements, future ambitions and clinical workflows before selecting the Stratasys J5 PolyJet printer.

Tri-Tech 3D supported the project throughout the specification and procurement process, advising on printer configuration, material selection, installation and ongoing support to ensure the solution met both current and future requirements.

Using the Stratasys J5 together with Med610 biocompatible resin, clinicians can now capture a precise 3D scan of each baby’s head, digitally design a patient-specific helmet and manufacture it directly from the digital model without the need for physical moulds or plaster replicas.

The J5’s multi-material capabilities, automated print preparation and exceptional print accuracy have enabled the team to create highly accurate medical devices while significantly simplifying production.

The Results

The move to a fully digital workflow has transformed helmet production at North Bristol NHS Trust.

By replacing physical moulding with digital scanning and additive manufacturing, the Bristol Helmet Service has streamlined its entire treatment process, reducing complex manual stages while improving consistency and repeatability.

Because helmets can now be manufactured automatically on the Stratasys J5, highly skilled reconstructive scientists are able to spend more time treating patients rather than producing devices manually. This has increased treatment capacity while helping the team deliver care more efficiently.

The use of Med610 biocompatible resin also ensures every helmet is safe for prolonged skin contact, providing a comfortable, patient-specific solution that supports healthy skull development throughout treatment.

Beyond helmet therapy, the investment has established Bristol 3D Medical Centre as a regional centre of excellence for medical additive manufacturing, supporting a growing range of clinical departments including oral and maxillofacial surgery, cleft services, burns and scar management, orthopaedics, neurosurgery and anaesthetics.

The team is also leading ongoing research into digital healthcare workflows, patient outcomes and future applications for additive manufacturing across the NHS.

Customer Quote

“We have recently developed this streamlined digital process, which has now replaced the physical moulding and stone plaster replicas of the babies’ heads that was previously our only option. This has only been possible through 3D scanning and the J5 printer, which enables a completely digital process, allowing us to design the helmets on-screen, print them in biocompatible resin and require very little post-processing to finish.”

Amy Davey
Lead Clinician, Bristol 3D Medical Centre & Lead Reconstructive Scientist

Tri-Tech 3D Quote

“North Bristol NHS Trust had a real vision for additive manufacturing technology and built a rock-solid business case. From there, we worked together closely to ensure that the Stratasys J5 met all technical specifications and performance criteria while advising on configurations, materials and ongoing maintenance. It’s fantastic to see the technology making such a meaningful difference to patient care while creating opportunities for wider adoption of additive manufacturing across the Trust.”

David Moore
Additive Specialist, Tri-Tech 3D