About Us
A Family Business Built on Heritage
Over 30 years of specialist experience in inhalation sedation equipment — rooted in the Cyprane heritage of Keighley, the world's once-renowned Anaesthetic Capital.
Our Story
From Cyprane to Keighley's Leading Specialist
Keighley has sometimes been referred to as 'The Anaesthetic Capital of the World' — due to the history of anaesthetic and sedation equipment being developed and manufactured in the area from the early 1960s onwards.
R A Medical Services is a family-based company started by Janet and Chris Pickles in 1994, following Chris's redundancy from Ohmeda during the final days of that company's presence in Steeton.
Taking the extensive experience and knowledge base dating from the Cyprane years, they steadily built up a large customer base of NHS Trusts and High Street Dentistry to the present UK market leader position enjoyed today.
We continue to service and support the older Cyprane-era equipment still in the field, keeping it running safely and accurately — a tribute to the engineering quality of those original designs.
30+
Years in Business
Innovation is still alive and in full flow, but hard work and attention to detail is equally important.
— Janet Pickles, Chairwoman
Houses of Parliament, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Parliamentary Review launch · October 2019
Our History
From 1772 to Today
Inhalation sedation is not new. Its story begins in a Calne laboratory more than 250 years ago, runs through a Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, a failed demonstration in a Boston operating theatre, and arrives at the family-run specialist we are today. Each link in that chain — discovery, demonstration, refinement, manufacture, distribution, service — has its place in the timeline below.
From Priestley to Davy: The Discovery of Nitrous Oxide
Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774 in the laboratory of Bowood House, Calne — initially terming it "dephlogisticated air"; Lavoisier and his colleagues renamed it "oxygen" in 1777-1778. It was Humphry Davy who, at the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol from 1798, systematically investigated nitrous oxide and popularised the term "laughing gas". In his landmark 1800 research, Researches, Chemical and Philosophical; Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and Its Respiration, Davy noted the gas's ability to dull physical pain and suggested it might relieve pain during surgery — the first anticipation of its anaesthetic potential.
Horace Wells Pioneers Dental Anaesthesia
In Hartford, Connecticut, the American dentist Horace Wells attends a public demonstration of "laughing gas" and sees a volunteer injure himself without noticing. The next day he has a colleague extract one of his own teeth under nitrous oxide, pain-free. His demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital a few weeks later fails — the patient cried out — and the medical establishment rejects him. The idea, however, would not go away.
Cyprane Founded
Bill Edmondson and Wilf Jones start Cyprane Ltd in a garage in Jew Lane, Oxenhope, West Yorkshire. The company develops a range of anaesthetic and resuscitation equipment, including the flowmeters and vaporisers that would define UK inhalation equipment manufacturing for decades.
Keighley: The Anaesthetic Capital
Cyprane and a cluster of neighbouring firms establish Keighley as a world centre for anaesthetic and sedation equipment manufacturing.
Quantiflex MDM UK Licence
The UK manufacturing licence for the Quantiflex MDM (Monitored Dial Mixer) is granted — beginning a product line that endures to this day as the workhorse of UK inhalation sedation.
BOC Acquires Cyprane
BOC purchases the group of companies. Wilf Jones continues as Managing Director as Fraser Harlake/Cyprane becomes part of the BOC Medishield Group.
Quantiflex MDM Manufacture Moves to Buffalo NY
Following the BOC takeover, UK manufacture of the Quantiflex MDM ceases and production moves to Orchard Park, Buffalo, NYS — where it continues alongside the Fraser R A (Mark II).
Bill Edmondson
Cyprane co-founder Bill Edmondson dies aged 71. Lord George Wellesley, the third founder member, had died in 1967, leaving Wilf Jones as the surviving founder of Cyprane.
R A Medical Founded
Janet and Chris Pickles found R A Medical Services from the dining room table, with 30+ years of Cyprane-era experience between them. By April 1995 the business had outgrown the house.
Porter Distributor
R A Medical becomes the UK & Irish Distributor of Porter products — the start of a relationship that spans the Quantiflex MDM, C3000 MXR, and Midas touch-screen flowmeter ranges.
FDA 510(k) Licence
R A Medical is awarded FDA 510(k) manufacturing clearance, allowing manufacture and export of Miniscav™ for use in the American medical field. Recognition of our regulatory and manufacturing depth on both sides of the Atlantic.
Houses of Parliament
Janet and Chris are invited to the Houses of Parliament for the launch of the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Parliamentary Review — recognition of three decades spent perfecting a single specialist field.
BDIA Centenary on the Cutty Sark
Four family members represent R A Medical at the BDIA Centenary Dinner aboard the Cutty Sark in Greenwich — a celebration of a hundred years of the British Dental Industry Association and our own long association with it.
30 Years in Business
Three decades of specialist service — from a small family business founded on a dining room table to the UK’s leading inhalation sedation equipment supplier.
New Skipton HQ
R A Medical relocates to a new purpose-built facility at Sandylands Business Centre, Skipton — supporting continued growth and giving the engineering team a modern, purpose-designed workshop.
Joanne Rooke — 30 Years
Office Manager Joanne Rooke marks her 30th year with the company — a remarkable span of continuity that reflects the loyalty and family values at the heart of R A Medical.
From the Archive
A Family Album of the Trade
Three decades of visits, conferences, awards and the occasional factory tour — collected here from our archive.
Our People
Two Generations at the Helm
R A Medical remains a family business at its heart — with a Cyprane heritage that spans three generations. Thomas Pickles, Chris's father, was Cyprane's Works Manager, and Chris himself started at Cyprane with a part-time holiday job in 1960 before being offered a full-time position. Janet trained as a State Registered Nurse (SRN) and worked as a staff nurse and surgical sister before stepping away from nursing to raise four sons.
That heritage carries through to today: Janet and Chris Pickles are now joined by their four sons, continuing the specialist, detail-focused service that began at Cyprane in 1947. Many of our staff have been with the company for over two decades — Office Manager Joanne Rooke has been with R A Medical since 1996.
R A Medical is a Certified Member of the BDIA Code of Practice for Dental CPD, a member of the Historical Medical Equipment Society, and four family members represented the company at the BDIA Centenary Dinner aboard the Cutty Sark in June 2023.
New from Janet Pickles
Navigating the World of Dental Inhalation Sedation
A forthcoming BDJ Clinician's Guide from Springer — the definitive clinical reference on inhalation sedation, drawing on over 30 years of specialist experience.
View on Springer
Janet and Christopher Pickles at the Leeds study day, October 2016.
Michael, Sam and James with Michael Civitello outside Porter Instrument — factory visit, August 2026.
Our Manufacturing Partners
Working with Porter Instrument & Accutron
We maintain close working relationships with our overseas manufacturing partners. Annual visits to the Porter Instrument factory in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and the Accutron factory in Phoenix, Arizona keep our engineering team trained on the latest products and ensure customers always receive up-to-date technical support.
R A Medical has been the UK & Irish Distributor of Porter products since 1996 — a relationship that began with the Quantiflex MDM and continues today with the latest Midas touch-screen flowmeter range.
R A Medical Today
The Specialist, By The Numbers
30+
Years Experience
50+
NHS Trusts
4
Premium Brands
UK & IE
Sole Distributor
Sustainability
Inhalation Sedation in the Age of Climate Awareness
Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas. Janet Pickles' forthcoming BDJ Clinician's Guide on inhalation sedation is unequivocal: understanding its climate impact — and what we can do about it — is essential if we are to align our practice with the NHS net-zero targets.
300×
global warming potential of N₂O vs CO₂
100+yr
atmospheric lifetime once released
90%
of NHS manifold N₂O lost to atmosphere
90%
reduction in ambient N₂O with active scavenging
Why this matters for your practice
During treatment, the majority of N₂O is exhaled unchanged and vented to atmosphere via scavenging. UK audits of piped hospital systems have found that upwards of 90% of purchased nitrous oxide was lost to atmosphere — leaking from pipework, manifolds, and fittings — before ever reaching a patient.
Active dental scavenging — fitted as standard across every R A Medical installation — reduces ambient N₂O by around 90% and is one of the most effective single interventions available to a practice. The technology is well established: BS EN ISO 7396-2:2007 sets a 40–45 L/min sustained draw at the nasal mask.
Our Miniscav™ dedicated active draw requires only a small 15 mm exit vent and an adjacent 230 V 5-amp power socket — making it simple to install without major surgery to the surgery. For practices that already operate conscious sedation, this is the single most cost-effective sustainability upgrade you can make this year.
Five practical steps
- 1Fit active scavenging on every installation — verified 40–45 L/min sustained draw at the nasal mask.
- 2Annual OEM service to maintain hypoxic guard accuracy and prevent leaks from ageing regulators and hoses.
- 3Choose reusable autoclaved components (Porter Brown, Silhouette, ANS components) where clinical judgement allows.
- 4Switch off the N₂O flow the moment sedation is paused — patient exhalation stops being effective the instant the gas does.
- 5Train every team member in the environmental aspects of nitrous oxide use, not just the clinical ones.
Built to last — and to be maintained
Equipment longevity is environmental impact
Inhalation sedation equipment has a typical working life of around 20 years when properly maintained. The most sustainable piece of equipment is the one you do not have to manufacture: every refurbishment and every service visit is, in carbon terms, a fraction of a new unit.
Modern Porter flowmeters are designed with that reality in mind — modular construction, replaceable sub-assemblies, and OEM parts availability that keeps a unit in service for two decades rather than a handful of years. Annual OEM servicing is the lowest-carbon way to run an inhalation sedation practice.
We are also working on projects to help reduce both our own emissions and those of our clients — including more efficient delivery routing for service visits, packaging reduction on consumables, and closer collaboration with manufacturers on end-of-life component refurbishment rather than replacement. Where we can lower the carbon footprint of the equipment we supply and service, we will.
Why R A Medical
Why You Should Use Us
OEM Service Status
We hold sole Manufacturer O.E.M. (Original Equipment Manufacturer) Service Status for Porter and Accutron. This applies to a wide range of units including the Matrx MDM, Digital MDM, Porter MXR C2000 & C3000, and Accutron Ultra machines. We are the only UK company with access to genuine spare parts and ongoing training by the manufacturer.
Family-Run, Team Approach
Rather than being a disembodied voice over the telephone, our staff get out as much as possible — attending conferences, exhibitions and study days. Divided into in-house office staff and an engineering team, we operate as a unit. The first person to answer your call will often be able to help you directly, thanks to our culture of thorough, ongoing training.
Specialist Focus
Of all the companies serving this field, only R A Medical decided to specialise exclusively in inhalation sedation. This narrow focus means you get genuinely specialist knowledge — not a generalist who happens to also handle our products. Our experience spans from 1960s Cyprane flowmeters to the latest digital systems.
FDA-Authorised Manufacturing
In 2017, R A Medical was awarded FDA 510(k) manufacturing clearance, allowing us to manufacture and export the Miniscav™ into the United States — and our own-branded products are sold into international markets including the US, Ireland and mainland Europe. This achievement reflects the depth of our regulatory and manufacturing expertise — recognised not just in the UK but internationally.
Ready to speak with our team?
Whether you are setting up a new surgery, replacing existing equipment, or need technical support — we are here to help.