Ambu
Cystoscopy beyond the Hospital

The demand for cystoscopy solutions is rising as more patients require investigation and surveillance for urological conditions. Despite this growing need, healthcare providers face significant capacity constraints. While many cystoscopy procedures have made the shift from being performed in operating theatres to outpatient clinics, there is an opportunity to go one step further.
What if we could move cystoscopy procedures out of outpatient clinics in acute hospitals and into Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs)? By shifting care closer to the patient, we could free up valuable capacity, streamline clinical pathways, increase the number of procedures performed, and improve access to timely diagnosis while making more efficient use of healthcare resources.

Ambu, a Danish multinational medical technology company and market leader in single-use endoscopy, believes the transition to more accessible, community-based cystoscopy requires more than introducing another cystoscope. The company positions itself as a partner to healthcare providers, helping hospitals redesign diagnostic pathways and streamline clinical workflows, including moving routine cystoscopy services into Community Diagnostic Centres. Its advanced single-use cystoscopy platform delivers high-definition imaging and consistent performance in a lightweight, portable setup, enabling providers to expand diagnostic capacity while improving operational efficiency.

For healthcare providers working to meet increasingly demanding diagnostic targets, success increasingly depends on combining innovative technologies with more efficient patient pathways. Within the NHS, this includes meeting the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard, which requires patients with suspected cancer to receive a diagnosis or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of referral.

“Ultimately, it is about helping patients access care sooner. By helping hospitals streamline their services, we enable patients to be seen faster, diagnosed sooner and treated earlier,” says Alexandra Marheineke, Marketing Director.

A platform designed around clinical efficiency

While expanding diagnostic capacity is the broader objective, achieving it depends on technology that integrates into everyday clinical practice. Ambu has focused on developing an integrated EndoIntelligence technology platform that delivers trusted clinical performance while supporting efficient workflows from procedure setup to documentation.

The platform is designed to be intuitive and quick to deploy, enabling departments to establish cystoscopy services without the logistical challenges associated with reusable equipment. High-quality imaging provides clinicians with the familiarity and confidence they expect, while digital connectivity allows procedural images and videos from community settings to be integrated directly into hospital patient record systems, improving documentation and facilitating collaboration between care teams.

Integrated image and video capture also enables nurse cystoscopists conducting routine diagnostic procedures to share cases with consultants for rapid second opinions when required, supporting the growing adoption of multidisciplinary, nurse-led models of care.

These advantages extend beyond usability. As each cystoscope is single-use, hospitals eliminate delays associated with reprocessing, repairs, and equipment availability. Departments can maintain uninterrupted access to devices while avoiding the operational burden of cleaning cycles that consume time, water, electricity, and chemical resources.

Beyond the technology itself, Ambu complements its platform with clinical education, dedicated account management, connectivity support, and dependable supply chain capabilities. As the leader in single-use endoscopy, with solutions spanning respiratory, gastroenterology, ear-nose-throat (ENT), and urology, it combines this broad clinical expertise with the reliability of its Danish heritage and resilient global supply chain. This improves confidence in the technology and Ambu as trusted partner capable of delivering consistent support and dependable product availability.

Innovation guided by clinical practice

Medical technology advances most effectively when innovation is driven by everyday clinical realities. Ambu has built its product development philosophy around continuous engagement with clinicians, incorporating feedback from global and local key opinion leaders, healthcare providers, and frontline users into successive product generations and new technologies.

The company introduces new endoscopy solutions at a significantly faster cadence than is typical within the reusable endoscopy market. Each iteration reflects practical insights gathered from clinical practice, ensuring that improvements address genuine operational and procedural needs. This collaborative development model allows Ambu to refine usability, image quality, workflow integration, and functionality while maintaining clinician confidence in the technology.

Instead of treating innovation as a periodic product launch, Ambu approaches it as an ongoing dialogue between engineering teams and healthcare professionals, enabling continuous refinement in response to changing clinical environments.

“We’re not bringing a product to market because we think it works. We’re bringing something to market because it addresses a real need, working closely with our customers and clinicians to keep improving,” says Marheineke.

Transforming diagnostic pathways in practice

The impact of Ambu’s approach is already being demonstrated within the NHS. At Warwickshire North Community Diagnostic Centre, part of George Eliot Hospital, flexible cystoscopy services were transitioned from the acute hospital into a Community Diagnostic Centre, creating a Haematuria One-Stop Clinic built around Ambu’s single-use cystoscopy platform. By eliminating the need for reprocessing and enabling same-day imaging and cystoscopy, the service increased cystoscopy capacity from six to nine patients per clinic list, reduced waiting times for diagnostic bladder cancer investigations, and streamlined the patient journey.

The redesigned pathway also contributed to a 4.1 percent improvement in the Trust’s 28-Day Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) between February and April 2025, compared with the previous year, helping more patients receive or rule out a cancer diagnosis within the NHS target timeframe. The model demonstrates how technology-enabled patient pathway redesign can improve operational performance while delivering faster access to diagnosis and treatment.

Challenging assumptions about single-use endoscopy

Despite growing adoption of single-use solutions, misconceptions continue to shape purchasing decisions across health systems. Concerns surrounding cost, environmental impact, and clinical performance often accompany discussions around disposable devices.

Ambu challenges each of these assumptions with evidence-based arguments. While reusable systems require substantial capital investment along with ongoing costs associated with repairs, maintenance, and reprocessing, single-use solutions offer greater cost transparency while eliminating delays caused by equipment availability.



Environmental sustainability represents another area where conventional perceptions are evolving. The company manufactures all its endoscopes, including cystoscopes, using bioplastic materials and has developed recycling initiatives that support circularity beyond the point of care. Equally significant is the elimination of the resource-intensive reprocessing cycle, reducing consumption of water, electricity, and chemicals typically associated with reusable devices.

Clinical performance remains equally central to the discussion. Ambu maintains that advances in imaging technology have enabled single-use cystoscopes to deliver image quality comparable to traditional reusable systems.

“There is a misunderstanding that single-use must be more expensive, worse for the environment, or clinically inferior. Based on the evidence we have today, that simply isn’t the case,” says Marheineke.

By addressing these misconceptions directly, Ambu seeks to shift conversations away from assumptions and toward measurable clinical, operational, and environmental outcomes.

Sustainability embedded throughout the product lifecycle

For healthcare providers pursuing ambitious environmental targets, sustainability has become an essential part of operational decision-making. The company integrates environmental responsibility throughout the product lifecycle, ensuring sustainability supports clinical excellence.

From manufacturing with bioplastics to reducing emissions associated with reprocessing, and developing recycling programs through its Recircle initiative, the company’s approach supports broader NHS and European healthcare sustainability objectives. These measures allow hospitals to pursue operational improvements while advancing their own environmental commitments.

Ambu’s continued commitment to clinical innovation, operational efficiency, and sustainable healthcare delivery has earned them recognition as the Best Single-Use Cystoscopy Platform in UK 2026. The recognition highlights the company’s ability to combine high-quality imaging, streamlined workflows, digital integration and connectivity, and sustainability within a platform designed to meet the evolving needs of NHS providers and health systems.

As health systems continue adapting to rising demand and constrained resources, the future of diagnostic services will increasingly depend on flexible care models capable of delivering high-quality outcomes beyond conventional hospital settings. Ambu’s vision reflects this broader transformation, with the company helping healthcare organizations redesign diagnostic pathways that strengthen care delivery without sacrificing quality, sustainability, or patient care.

In an environment where every additional appointment, reduced delay, and enhanced workflow contributes to better clinical outcomes, Ambu continues to demonstrate that its greatest contribution lies in the technology and partnerships it builds to help healthcare providers solve their operational challenges.