South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) has set up a Digital Innovation Hub for healthcare in a partnership with IT solutions firm SCC.
It is intended to give clinicians a facility to carry out trials of new technologies alongside the existing care regime.
A spokesperson for SWFT said it will be open to clinicians from the Foundation Group partnership it shares with George Eliot and Wye Valley NHS Foundation Trusts.
“The idea is for our clinicians to work on digital solutions for common problems that could be shared far and wide,” she said, adding that it will not be confined to using SCC technology.
“It’s about using the contacts and platform that SCC has to work with other technology providers, from big names to start-ups.”
Technologies available in the hub include videoconferencing and artificial intelligence solutions. SCC highlighted the potential of AI in areas such as ophthalmology, pointing to a project to reduce the requirement for manual diagnosis for low risk patients.
Exciting project
Guy Burley, chief executive of SWFT, said: “The Digital Innovation Hub is a really exciting project and emphases how digital will help the NHS moving forward.
“We wanted to create a facility where our clinicians can sit alongside the very best technology companies to develop solutions to meet the healthcare needs of the population now and for years to come.
“For the first time our clinicians are able to highlight problems that they are facing, and together we will design technology solutions with the very best brains in the business. Rather than looking on the shelves of technology solutions and seeing if they meet the needs of our patients, our clinicians will be co-producing and co-designing solutions.”
The trust has received an ‘outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission and recently won a Health Business Award for outstanding achievement in healthcare.
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