Secondary Care

CW+ and Chelsea and Westminster NHS FT launch new innovation programme

CW+, the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has today announced a new innovation programme, named CW Innovation.

The partnership and innovation programme aims to identify and deliver new highimpact innovation initiatives and improvements that support the goal of delivering operational excellence, and exceptional patient care and experience in a clinical environment. 

CW+ said “The launch today marks a new phase in the Trust’s commitment to design, attract, embed and evaluate new initiatives and technologies to transform operational efficiency and, critically, patient care and patient experience.”

Lesley Watts, Chief Executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust “CW Innovation is designed to connect the frontline clinical and operational staff and partner organisations, both in and outside of the NHS. We strongly believe it will lead to improvements in the care we provide to our patients and the way we run our hospitals.”

“With over 70 projects in our pipeline, an increasing number of external partners and a growing innovation team, we are excited to officially launch CW Innovation today.”

At the launch event today at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Dr Nick Scott-Ram, Chief of Strategic Development at Sensyne Health, one of the Trust’s innovation partners, commented: “We are delighted to be working with the Trust to analyse anonymised patient data using Sensyne Health’s clinical artificial intelligence technology, and collaborate in digital health and biomedical research to gain new insights to improve the care of patients at the Trust. We have seen first-hand how the teams here have developed a proactive and open environment enabling the introduction and evaluation of the latest clinical and digital innovations including those from Sensyne Health.”

Chris Chaney, CW+ Chief Executive “We are a Global Digital Exemplar, a founding partner of DigitalHealth.London Accelerator and run nationally recognised, award winning services. We are well placed to respond to the increasing demand to discover, test and adopt innovative, scalable solutions that support the delivery of better patient-centred, more responsive and cost-effective care.”

“CW Innovation is a unique programme that we believe can make a real difference to patient care in our Trust and across the NHS.”

Some of the innovations that have come from the group include:

  • Mum and Baby App: A free Mum and Baby app contains over 70 pages of information providing new parents with reliable, up-to-date advice about looking after their baby and themselves. Now in its third version, it has been chosen and developed for use across six hospitals in the North West London catchment area. The app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
  • Acute Diagnostic Oncology Clinic: The Acute Diagnostic Oncology Clinic (ADOC) is a nurse-led fast track service for patients with a clinical suspicion of cancer. This is the first clinic of its kind in the UK. Previously, the service did not include patients with ‘vague symptoms’, an area that The National Cancer Strategy is focusing on. CW+ worked with the Trust to extend the clinic to include these patients, improving time-to-diagnosis, patient experience, and reducing unnecessary emergency admissions.
  • Burns: Working with the Burns Unit the in-house production of bespoke face masks and splints, for facial scar healing. These masks and splints use 3D printing and other production methods, aiming to reduce costs and, critically, waiting times from 8-12 weeks to just 1 week. Other new technologies in the Burns Unit include a VBeam Pulsed Dye Laser, a LPG Endermologie Machine and a CO2 Laser, which are all being used to reduce scarring and improve associated symptoms caused by scars.
  • Postnatal discharge system: The digital postnatal discharge system, powered by Lumeon Technology, improves patient experience, increase efficiency and reduce costs at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The digital dashboards allow multi-disciplinary team members to quickly see what they need to do next, and by when, for each patient to meet their discharge slot. Staff can communicate more effectively with new mums and provide a more holistic overview relating to them and their baby in regards getting them ready for home.