October 25, 2016, by Emma Lowry
Nottingham health-tech innovations shown at Parliament
The City’s finest health and life science innovations were on display at Westminster for Nottingham in Parliament Day, organised by The University of Nottingham.
The day-long event (on 25 October) was designed to demonstrate and celebrate the institutions, businesses and people that make Nottingham great.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) led a Health and Life Sciences Innovation Showcase for NiP Day. Key academics from The University were on hand to highlight key healthcare technologies research and collaborations with NUH and industrial partners.
These included Human Factors researchers who worked with NUH to evaluate the success of the use of mobile phones and tablets to log patient observation data at its two main hospitals.
NUH was the first NHS trust in the UK to introduce a single electronic observations (e-Obs) system in 2015 in place of traditional paper notes.
Prior to the pilot, recording of patient observations and early warning scores (EWS) of acutely ill patients were previously manually calculated and inputted onto a paper chart.
The eObs software, developed by Nervecentre Software Ltd, not only automatically calculates EWS and generates clinical alerts it also provides clinical staff with up-to-the-minute patient information at their fingertips.
The initial roll-out of e-Obs on mobile devices connected up to 5,500 staff, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians on 76 wards at both the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital.
University of Nottingham researchers found that the e-Obs tool freed up significantly more time for hospital ward doctors and nurses to give vital care.
Dr James Pinchin, from the School of Computer Science and Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, presented the latest developments with the Wayward project, which uses indoor navigation technology — based on a similar principle to the ’satnav’ — to study the footfall of medical staff both while working on wards and ‘in transit’ around the hospital during evenings and weekends in a bid to help them become more efficient and improve patient care.
The project also examines the way in which junior doctors deal with patient care-related tasks compared to more senior colleagues.
Professor Steve Morgan, from the Faculty of Engineering, was on hand to talk about the Centre for Healthcare Technologies and the latest innovations being developed to help improve quality of life for patients.
NUH Chief Executive, Peter Homa formally opened the Showcase. He said: “Nottingham is a special city and has so much going for it that makes it an attractive place to live and work. It is a beacon for research and innovation and home to the development of the MRI scanner and the anti-inflammatory drug, Ibuprofen.
“Nottingham in Parliament Day provides a unique opportunity to showcase some of the best health and life science innovations that have contributed to putting Nottingham and Nottinghamshire on the map. Innovation has never been more important in the NHS.
“Many of the challenges that lie ahead cannot be solved by one organisation or by one sector alone. One of the features that sets Nottingham and Nottinghamshire apart is its effective partnership working and desire to find innovative solutions from our frontline staff that will improve the lives of current and future patients and their families for the better.”
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