Chelsea and Westminster’s innovation programme celebrates one year

An innovation programme run by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating its first anniversary.

The CW Innovation programme was launched in September 2019 with the aim to deliver a portfolio of evaluated, real-world projects by connecting frontline clinical and operational staff with partner organisations. It is run by the trust and its charity, CW+.

It has been a busy year for the programme as the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a surge of innovation across Chelsea and Westminster.

It now has a portfolio of more then 80 innovations including remote symptom monitoring; wearables and environmental sensors that track patient recovery; new models of care that rapidly reduce time to diagnosis and treatment; robotics to enhance patient care; and new digital patient pathways including the Test Bed programme and the remote care of stable HIV patients.

Bruno Botelho, director of digital operations at the trust, said: “Thanks to the support of our partners and benefactors, CW Innovation has helped establish an infrastructure and internal culture that have responded quickly to the increasing demands to innovate and address the evolving needs of our patients and staff.”

The programme has also worked with staff to bring their new ideas to fruition to improve patient care and address the emerging needs of staff.

One example of staff-led innovations is the eye-tracking technology currently being trialled in the increased cohort of patients to ICU, who are at risk of developing delirium. The technology uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the eye movement of patients, facilitating early detection of delirium.

Chris Chaney, chief executive of CW+, added: “The world we live in is changing dramatically with very significant impact on how we care for our patients.

“CW Innovation has enabled us to move at pace over the last year to respond quickly to the pandemic, implementing permanent, technological advancements that not only improve care but also make us more resilient to, and prepared for whatever the future may hold. It is our intention to continue to build on this momentum and respond to the new challenges as they emerge.”