HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2016


Surgeon, Rafael Guerrero, demonstrating equipment in the Virtual Engineering Centre.


personnel involved include cardiac surgeons, nurses, other doctors, and some of the project team. “Having established the Innovation Hub,” David Powell explained, “we were keen to take forward the idea of Alder Hey being a ‘Living Hospital’.”


‘Living Hospital’ concept “Our question,” he told delegates, “was what we could do with the Living Hospital, i.e., what does a Living Hospital have?” The first key element identified was ‘a sensory capability’. He elaborated: “Liverpool has John Moores University, the leaders in sensor technology. While consumer products such as cars and washing machines already extensively harness sensor technology, sensors don’t yet seem to have really made their mark in healthcare.”


Skin sensor idea


Having begun to look at the whole area of sensor deployment, David Powell recounted how, on talking to a cardiologist, the heart specialist had discussed the idea of applying a sensor to a patient’s skin which would ‘pick up’ what was in the patient’s blood, eliminating the need for blood to be taken in certain instances. The surgeon was keen to progress the concept, but unsure how to proceed. David Powell said: “We thought we could take this forward, and harnessed the help of Liverpool John Moores University.” The skin sensor ‘idea’ was subsequently taken forward, with the support of a £1 m Government grant, to look at two particular molecules in the blood – lactate and haemoglobin – and to ascertain whether, if a sensor is placed upon the skin, it will prevent medics having to draw blood.


Extravasation sensor


Secondly, on the sensor-related front, another idea being progressed had come about as a result of the project team establishing ‘open forum’ events knows as ‘Hackathons’, where attendees discuss their ideas at a large meeting to encourage innovators present to come up with solutions. David Powell said: “In this latest instance we have been looking to develop an extravasation sensor. A very common problem with children is that when they have a plaster on their hands over a cannula, research shows that in 29 per cent of cases, a sore starts to form. The sore can potentially turn into a very nasty infection. One solution, which we are now looking at with John Moores, is to put a sensor into the plaster which picks up moisture, so you can quickly see when there is a risk of a sore forming, via the sounding of an alarm. The nurse or clinician can then change the plaster before a problem occurs.” There was thus now, the speaker explained, ‘a stream of activity’ ongoing around sensors at the Innovation Hub.


The advent of ‘AI’


Moving on to another area of research activity for the Innovation Hub, David Powell explained that the team was also looking at Artificial Intelligence. He said: “There is no doubt that cognitive computing is coming. With such computing, advanced computers can now sweep unstructured data – such as social media and conversations, and language – and interpret it.” One of the latest cognitive computers is IBM Watson, described by IBM as ‘a technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to reveal insights


At Healthcare Estates 2016, Chris Northey, IHEEM’s President for the preceding two years, introduced the Alder Hey speaker.


from large amounts of unstructured data’. At Alder Hey, David Powell explained, cognitive computing using the IBM Watson system would be used to enable the hospital to ‘understand’ who was staying within it, and to ‘recognise’ individual children. He said: “We have already begun looking at how we can turn this capability into something that will entertain and distract young patients while they are in hospital – exploring the concept of ‘entertainment as medicine’. One key element is creating personalised accounts for children, by giving each patient their own character which they can create at home.” This character, he explained, would then accompany the young patient into the hospital, could appear on the television screen in the room, and could even walk with them to an operating theatre or X-ray room. He elaborated: “What we’re doing with IBM Watson and AI is to try to give that character some cognitive sense, so that it can tell if the child is worried, angry, and intense etc., and respond accordingly.” This was an interesting initiative, David Powell acknowledged, although he conceded that trying to pull together all this personalised information on a child was quite difficult due to the nature of confidential information around children.


Distraction aid


He added: “The avatars can be an invaluable aid in distracting children, for instance when they are about to undergo a scan or operation. With the child’s own personal character visible to them on a screen in the X-ray room, we can keep them more focused, and less stressed, increasing the chances of a successful scan.” Another potential benefit could


April 2017 Health Estate Journal 39


© Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.


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