Innovation exchange: Estates and facilities

“Estates and facilities are no longer the problem of those people in the basement – it’s everybody’s concern.” – James Mayne

This month Health Innovation East partnered with East Midlands AHSN to showcase innovations that will both inspire and practically help shape the future of NHS estates and facilities in this region to enable the delivery of excellent care.

We are living in a period of tremendous change for the NHS. New models of care mean that properties have to deliver much more than in the past, making estates and facilities an even more important part of the patient experience, requiring innovative approaches to deliver against the dual goals of patient care and efficiencies.

The scope of this innovation exchange encompassed everything related to the places where care is delivered, both the buildings themselves and the systems that keep them running, such as heating and lighting.

Many great ideas were showcased at the event, from an app to record problems with equipment, using clean tech to cut energy costs and a wayfinding system to ease journeys around hospitals.

James Mayne, Scan4Safety Programme Manager, University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust, explained how they are using barcodes to enable clinical teams to identify patients by accessing their records quickly and easily at the bedside or in operating theatres and to ensure that the right medical equipment is in place. The introduction of this programme has improved patient safety, clinical productivity and supply chain efficiency whilst saving the trust over £2.7m in just one year.

Andrew Selby, Associate Director Estates and Facilities at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, shared how they had introduced a new app to support the efficient day-to-day running of the hospital by simply enabling any member of staff to report problems with equipment 24/7 so they could be fixed more speedily and avoid delays in delivering patient care.

Meanwhile, Andrew Talbot, Director, Workplace Design & Construction EMEA at M Moser Associates brought a global perspective, sharing his industry intelligence on innovative property projects with cutting-edge designs from New York to Hong Kong. Winston Churchill, he said, had grasped the importance of space: “We shape our buildings and our buildings shape us.”

More than 65 delegates attended the event and benefited from the networking opportunities and suggestions for developing their ideas.

Jonathan Cole, Sales Manager of Vetrohealth, summed up the day well, commenting: “Approaching the NHS with our technology felt daunting because of the sheer size of the organisation. Today though, we were talking directly to NHS professionals that are genuinely searching for technology like ours, professionals that we were never likely to find on our own. The AHSN is the perfect bridge to connect beneficial technologies with unmet NHS requirements.”

We are now working with East Midlands AHSN to support new partnerships formed on the day and explore the potential for further working with innovators across both regions.