Informing Healthcare, the Welsh NHS IT agency, has opened a new state-of-the-art health informatics research laboratory at Swansea University, designed to help find innovative new ways of treating patients.
The laboratory was officially opened by the Welsh health minister, Edwina Hart, at the Swansea University School of Medicine, last week and Informing Healthcare say it is the first of its kind in the UK and Europe to simulate a range of healthcare settings experienced by patients in Wales.
Researchers will use the simulation to learn about innovative new technology, which can be tested before being introduced in the NHS.
Hart said: “The laboratory will enable the Welsh health service to be at the cutting edge of innovation in patient care. This is fitting as the 60th anniversary of the NHS – which was inspired and born in Wales – approaches.
“We have wide range of skills and expertise in the NHS and academia in Wales and this new laboratory will help maximise this for the benefit of both patient and staff. This collaboration between Informing Healthcare and Swansea University shows what can be achieved when we work together.”
Informing Healthcare says the new health informatics research laboratory will create a healthcare community ‘in a room’ that simulates a variety of healthcare settings.
Within the lab is a series of ‘pods’ which will represent settings including a patient’s home, a GP practice, the out-of-hours GPs’ service and a hospital outpatients’ clinic.
The purpose-built laboratory will use the latest technology to evaluate new ideas and treatment methods and work with current computer systems in the NHS to identify ways to further join up services to improve care for patients.
Gwyn Thomas, chief executive of Informing Healthcare, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating on such an initiative and working with Swansea University to move patient care to another level by testing technology in various virtual healthcare settings.
“It is very important to the Informing Healthcare Programme because it will allow us to test out and evaluate existing information systems so that they meet clinician’s needs.”
The laboratory will bring together researchers, clinicians, and commercial companies to find innovations in healthcare and aims to capitalise on existing knowledge and skills at Swansea University and in the NHS
It will also provide opportunities for Welsh healthcare companies to develop their skills and products and enable innovations to be shared with other health services across the UK and the world.
David Ford, Swansea University’s director of the health informatics research laboratories, said: “The new laboratory and our collaboration with Informing Healthcare is a great step forward for our research in health informatics and healthcare computing.
“We see the laboratories being a focal point for the university’s research into the use of information technology to support the clinical process, drawing together academics from across campus, industry partners and doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals.”
Hart added: “The way in which patients are cared for and treated is continually changing to keep up with new technology and medical advances. People are now living longer and managing conditions that would have been fatal when the NHS began.
“This new laboratory will enable the NHS in Wales to be at the forefront of innovation requirements and ensure that they are satisfactory for the safe delivery of patient care.”
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