Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust is set to pilot augmented reality glasses A.Consult in their React to Red (Tissue Viability) team.
The smart glasses, developed by ConceptHealth, will be worn by staff during home visits. With the patient’s consent, they will be able to record parts of their visit, including footage (such as dressing a wound) or audio. The glasses transcribe information directly into the electronic patient record to be stored on the cloud.
Other benefits include the ability to share live footage with colleagues to get a second opinion whilst still with the patient; using thermal imaging to determine if a wound has improved; and looking up next appointments and calculating how long it will take to get there based on live traffic updates. Additionally, over time A.Consult will learn how long it takes to complete certain tasks, helping staff to manage their diaries better.
Use of the glasses is expected to reduce the amount of time the team spends on admin, making more time for clinical duties.
Claire Shipley, Assistant General Manager for Community Services at the Trust, commented: “This is an incredibly exciting project to be involved with and is going to absolutely transform the way our community staff interact with patients; ultimately save them time enabling them to see more people each day. We chose the React to Red team for the pilot as we felt they’d see the most benefit in terms of a time saving. We hope that patients will support us as we trial this pioneering technology and will embrace it just as much as our staff have.”
Farhan Amin, Founder of ConceptHealth, added: “We’re proud to have partnered with NLaG to trial this technology in Community services. Aside from the clear benefits A.Consult will bring in terms of reducing the administrative burden on staff, we’re keen to explore the longer-term impact the glasses will have in terms of improving productivity. As the smart glasses learn from each patient encounter, it will automate key tasks currently performed manually giving staff time back to deliver holistic person centred care to each patient.”
The project is possible thanks to an injection of £400,000 in funding from NHS England as part of a project set up to unlock the potential of digital technologies to support care within ambulance and community health sectors. It is one of 17 projects to receive a share of £6 million from the Digital PODAC Unified Tech Fund.
