TECHNOLOGY


In hospitals without Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) capability, staff spend an average of 72 minutes per shift simply searching for equipment – time that could and should be spent with patients.


nurse burnout consistently rank higher. Technology that gives staff time for meaningful patient interaction directly tackles these concerns.


Healing architecture in practice Switzerland’s Kantonsspital Baden (KSB), often described as one of the country’s smartest hospitals, is a perfect example of healing architecture in action. From the outset, the ambition behind the project was clear. They wanted to create a hospital that did not just treat patients efficiently, but actively supported their recovery through every dimension of the built environment – from the way people find their way around the building to the responsiveness of the room they recover in. Working with Siemens, the hospital has been equipped with a fully customised IoT smart hospital platform built around more than 7,000 IoT sensors and 2,000 asset tags assigned to the hospital’s most critical equipment. Rather than a closed, fixed system, it is designed to evolve – enabling the hospital to develop, configure, and scale new use cases as needs emerge, without starting from scratch each time. That kind of flexibility is exactly what healthcare environments require, because the challenges they face rarely stand still.


Hany Saleeb


As global head (vice president) of healthcare markets at Siemens Smart Infrastructure, Hany Saleeb leads strategy, portfolio development, marketing, and sales for healthcare solutions worldwide. With over 20 years of experience in digital transformation and product innovation, Hany’s achievements include launching connected digital hospital solutions, implementing GenAI-driven productivity tools, and strong business growth. He holds advanced degrees from MIT, Harvard, Pace University, and NYU Stern. Since May 2016, he has been Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, specialising in data analysis and technology management.


Here, the digital wayfinding solution is a case in point.


We developed a dedicated app-based navigation system specifically for KSB, designed to guide patients and visitors seamlessly across what is an extensive and complex hospital campus. The app does not just point people toward treatment rooms and clinics – it also helps them locate cafés, public transport stops, and other amenities that matter when a patient’s family member or visitor has spent hours waiting. That level of thoughtfulness in design has a direct clinical benefit by reducing wait times, smoother patient flow, and increased treatment capacity. The real-time location services layer adds another dimension entirely. According to research from Frost & Sullivan, in hospitals without Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) capability, staff spend an average of 72 minutes per shift simply searching for equipment – time that could and should be spent with patients. At KSB, the smart tags assigned to beds, wheelchairs, and other essential medical assets connect directly into the Smart Hospital Platform, giving staff instant visibility of where critical items are at any given moment. The operational gains are meaningful, but the human gains are what matter most – when a nurse is not spending the first hour of a shift hunting for a wheelchair, they are spending it with the person who needs it. The benefits also extend beyond hospital


corridors to patient rooms. A paediatric patient can customise their room’s ambient lighting to their favourite colours, making an intimidating hospital setting more comforting. An elderly patient can adjust temperature,


60 Health Estate Journal November 2026


lighting, or shading with a single tap while staying informed about when their doctor is on the way. These are intentional design elements of healing architecture, carefully considered to restore dignity, reduce stress, and actively support the healing journey.


Building Information Modelling (BIM) was used


throughout the planning process, allowing every system to be mapped, tested, and refined before a single wall was built. The result is a hospital where the technology does not feel bolted on – it is woven into the fabric of the building itself.


The intelligence behind the comfort What makes these experiences possible is autonomous building infrastructure – systems that know, learn, see, observe, and act, continuously self-learning to anticipate needs before anyone has to ask. Room automation learns patterns and automatically adjusts temperature and lighting based on the time of day or patient condition. This intelligence starts before the hospital even opens


its doors to the public. Across the industry, digital twins – virtual replicas of the physical building – are increasingly being used to allow architects and planners to simulate patient flows, test different room configurations and identify bottlenecks before construction begins. Once operational, these digital models continue to evolve, using real-time data from thousands of sensors to optimise everything from staff workflows to energy consumption. KSB is a living example of this principle – a hospital that opened with a sophisticated digital foundation already in place and that will continue to grow smarter as the platform scales and new use cases are layered in over time.


The business case Benefits go beyond patient experience to improve running costs. Operating rooms (ORs) are among the most energy-intensive hospital spaces, housing high-energy medical imaging devices like surgical imaging systems and intraoperative scanners. When hospitals integrate scheduling systems with building management systems (BMS), they can intelligently power down unused ORs and place energy-heavy imaging equipment into low-consumption states overnight, while keeping a smaller number available for emergencies. This approach turns some of the hospital’s most expensive infrastructure into a source of energy savings, freeing up budget without compromising patient care.


Overcoming implementation challenges The challenges to implementing this vision are organisational, not technological. IT scheduling platforms, BMS technology, and integration layers often operate in silos, each overseen by different


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