Qlicksmart Story

Qlicksmart was founded by Australian medical doctors Dr Neville Henry (AM) and Dr Michael Sinnott in 1998 to combat the dangers of sharps injuries from scalpel blades.
It began with one nurse’s cry that “there has to be a better way” while pointing at a pair of artery forceps that she used to remove scalpel blades.
Their Qlicksmart BladeFLASK blade remover and sharps container was the world’s first single-handed blade remover, a way to remove scalpel blades without the risk of injuries and the spread of blood borne diseases.
Following the success of the BladeFLASK in hospitals and clinics, Qlicksmart responded to the call from Operating Theatre nurses who needed a sterile scalpel blade remover. Thus, the BladeCASSETTE, BladeNeedleSYSTEM, and BladeSINGLE products were produced to provide safety in a variety of surgical settings.
Beyond scalpel safety, Qlicksmart has worked with Australian inventors from the healthcare sector to commercialise safety products. These include the SnapIT—a safe and reusable ampoule opener to protect staff and patients from ampoule injuries, and the CheckCLIP—a medication identification clip designed to prevent medication errors.

Dr Michael Sinnott is an innovator and senior clinician with strong management, research, and education skills developed in both public healthcare and commercial spaces.
Dr Sinnott has been involved in clinical medicine for over 30 years, the majority of that time being spent in the Emergency Department. While working with several Brisbane hospitals, Dr Sinnott engaged in the education of more than 4,000 junior doctors, 200 registrars, and innumerable medical students
In the field of research, Dr Sinnott promotes an evidence-based approach to emergency medicine, where emergency departments implement the recommendations from existing high-quality evidence, and develop a culture which generates and supports research findings. Dr Sinnott was the driving force in designing the Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation, and has been principal in attracting research teams and research funding of approximately $2 million.
Dr Sinnott has been published in over 40 publications, and is a world-leader in research regarding staff safety in healthcare; particularly scalpel safety. His expertise in staff safety lead Dr Sinnott to become involved in safety guidelines and legislation in the USA, and safety standards in Australia. Most recently, Dr Sinnott was involved in developing the Australian Standard on Hand Hygiene, and is involved in the revisions of the Australian Standard for the removal and disposal of scalpel blades. As part of his advocacy for staff safety, Dr Sinnott Co-Founded Staff and Patient Safety, an organisation which provides a platform for staff and patient safety issues.