Manchester University NHS FT launches digital twin

Manchester University NHS Foundation (MFT) has gone live with a digital twin of six hospitals as part of its strategy to create a smart estate.

The 3D model, which went live in mid-October 2025, is designed to provide a single source of estates data to support new workflows and better decision making and improve operational efficiency and patient safety.

The digital twin, which replaces disparate systems and paper-based processes and visualises floor, rooms and spaces with associated data, is being used to understand space optimisation and support the management of RAAC and asbestos, with plans to add indoor navigation, patient contact tracing and real-time asset tracking.

David Bailey, head of digital estates at MFT, who led the project, said: “Integrating all of our existing data into one 3D model has created the foundation for building a digital twin and is driving new opportunities for efficiency gains.

“Moving from analogue to digital achieves a better understanding of our buildings and assets which helps improve their management and maintenance, as well as improving patient safety.”

The 3D model spans 274,000 square metres of internal floor space and includes Manchester Royal Infirmary, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and Saint Mary’s Hospital on the Oxford Road campus, plus Altrincham Hospital and Wittington Community Hospital.

It was created using Esri UK’s Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, which includes indoor mapping, spatial analysis, navigation and asset tracking.

BIS Consult, MFT’s strategic data partner, led the development of the underlying data strategy and the integration of the multiple information sources required.

Kay Mulcahy, associate director of national estates operations at NHS England, said: “The deployment of the digital twin at Manchester Foundation Trust marks a pivotal shift from fragmented, paper-based systems to a unified digital platform.

“It’s not just a technological upgrade; it’s a transformation in how NHS estates are managed and a true demonstration of moving from analogue to digital.

“By digitising the estate data, MFT are unlocking smarter decision-making, streamlining maintenance, and ultimately creating safer, more efficient environments for patients and staff.”

The digital twin is being used in a trial to better understand the use of space, by quickly showing where room usage is not being optimised.

Full roll-out is intended to provide staff with a real-time view of occupancy levels and space requests, while clinicians will be able to examine existing facilities more easily and plan new services.

The next phase will map the remaining four hospitals in MFT’s estate and digitise building condition surveys to help tackle the maintenance backlog.