DIGITAL HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
Digital hospitals setting the blueprint for future care
Moritz Spellenberg, associate director at international architectural practice, Llewelyn Davies, discusses the range of benefits that increasing ‘digitisation’ of hospitals can bring to both patients and staff, in areas including improved care, less time spent on time-consuming manual processes, better utliisation of space, enhanced clinical flow, greater overall efficiencies, and a more pleasant and comfortable hospital stay.
What is a digital or ‘smart’ hospital? There is no universally agreed definition, but one thing that is clear is that the healthcare sector stands on the cusp of extraordinary change, with digital technology offering real solutions to tackling the healthcare challenges of today and tomorrow. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption, as it was critical for the NHS to accommodate virtual consultations, as well as track vaccines and the spread of the virus. As certain weaknesses in existing systems were highlighted, lessons learned from the pandemic mean that there is now a greater drive than ever to reach a more sophisticated level of digitalisation in healthcare. For me, a ‘smart hospital’ is one that
harnesses digital technologies as an enabler for all areas of healthcare provision – from telemedicine and how patient records are processed, to diagnosis, wearable technology, connected buildings, and more. This requires hospital design to evolve and become a more holistic process to deliver hospitals that are future-ready.
Learning from a stand-out initiative in Greece There are some outstanding examples starting to emerge internationally. Llewelyn Davies is involved as healthcare consultant in the design and construction of three state-of-the-art public hospitals in Greece, funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s (SNF) $750 m global SNF Health Initiative, and designed in collaboration with world-renowned architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The SNF General Hospitals of Komotini and Sparta, and the SNF University Pediatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, are all due for completion in 2025, and are setting a new standard for healthcare in Greece. They will bring to life a blueprint for the hospital of the future. The vision for the hospitals is centered on a humanistic approach to design, paired with technology. A considerable budget has been allocated for the IT systems alone,
44 Health Estate Journal April 2023
Computer-generated images of the SNF General Hospital of Komotini – one of three new hospitals in Greece funded by SNF Health Initiative, where Llewelyn Davies is involved as healthcare consultant in the design and construction collaboration with ‘world-renowned architect’, Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
with the hospitals aiming to achieve HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Level 3 at launch. HIMMS provides a defined framework to assessing services like electronic patient records, radiology, and laboratory systems based on a 0-7 rating. Level 7 signifies a totally paperless environment and a data-led hospital, which incorporates Electronic Medical Record (EMR) infrastructure,
external health information exchange (HIE), data analytics, business management software, governance, disaster recovery, and privacy and security.
Greek state’s goal The Greek state has a goal of reaching Level 7 in the coming years for the three hospitals. This is in line with its commitment to the ‘H Cloud’, which
Images courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
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