A National Digital Health Innovation Lab will open at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Tullamore, Ireland.
The new lab will be used as an innovation centre for co-designing and iterating novel digital solutions to improve care outcomes, reduce cost, improve patient/clinician experience and improve quality of life.
Catriona McDonald, general manager of the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore said: “We are very excited to begin our journey as a National Digital Health Innovation Lab.
“This is a strong endorsement of Tullamore Hospital and a key recognition of our people who are driving improvements in patient care every day and embracing digital health solutions such as the recently piloted UV autonomous robot ‘Violet’ with Akara robotics.
“This has delivered outstanding results in the initial living lab proof of concept and we were very pleased to have been able to facilitate it at the hospital, particularly at a time when staff were responding to the Covid-19 crisis.
“We will now engage with staff throughout the hospital to identify opportunities to enhance how we deliver our services and ultimately continue delivering high-quality patient care.”
HSE Digital Transformation and Innovation and the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group will open the lab, which will be a focal point for the network of 25 Digital Living labs which have been set up across the country.
Enterprise Ireland is collaborating with the HSE to accelerate the development and deployment of Irish digital health and life sciences companies.
This will facilitate access for Irish companies to the Irish health service to trial new innovations that have the potential to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and deliver efficiencies to the health service.
It is planned that the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore and the other hospitals in the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group will work closely with the HSE Digital Transformation Programme to develop the concept of the digital health living lab throughout its hospitals focused on providing better and faster benefits to patients and clinicians alike.
Proffessor Martin Curley, director of digital transformation and innovation at the HSE said: “We already have achieved significant benefits in the area of remote monitoring and vital signs automation by working with Irish SME’s such as PatientMPower, PMD Solutions and Syncrophi.
“We are witnessing a new era in digital health technology and collectively we can shape a new better health future. Working with the ecosystem the ambitions and talents of the people in Tullamore Hospital and other Hospitals will truly drive significant and positive change.”
