Cisco to help create framework for virtual hospitals in Ireland

Cisco has announced a joint initiative with the University of Galway and CÚRAM SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices, to create a research framework for a ‘virtual hospital’.

The pilot, which is part of Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration programme, aligns to the ambitions of Ireland’s 10-year health and social care reform Sláintecare, to avoid unnecessary hospital admission and support patients at home.

The research initiative aims to prove a framework that could help lighten the workload of healthcare professionals, while minimising operational costs.

Prof Derek O’Keeffe, project principal investigator and professor of medical device technology at the University of Galway, said: “This research project offers an innovative virtual solution to a real global healthcare problem.

“It will explore new ways of providing care to our patients using next generation technology and new clinical pathways to improve health and economic outcomes.”

The initiative brings together multiple clinical areas and stages of treatment, including community virtual care pathways for enhanced monitoring of chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Professor Abhay Pandit, CÚRAM director, said: “This project is one of the largest industry collaborations our centre has supported to date.

“It is an excellent example of the impact that collaborations between CÚRAM and industry can have on local communities and society at wide.”

Underpinned by Cisco networking infrastructure, myPatientSpace and patientMpower mobile health apps provide the virtual hospital’s digital platform that helps patients track key health metrics and monitor symptoms from home.

Clinicians will connect to real-time dashboards that display information on a patient’s condition, alerting medical professionals to changes so they can detect deterioration early and deliver timely care.

Brian Jordan, country digital acceleration lead at Cisco Ireland, said: “Digital technology is critical to the future of healthcare and is capable of extending care well beyond hospital walls, right into patients’ homes and in the heart of their local community.

“Cisco is proud to be supporting this ground-breaking 360° care delivery model that aims to streamline processes, alleviate staff workload, and reduce financial pressures on public healthcare services.”

The University of Galway HIVE Lab has developed digital care solutions for local patients in the study, enabled by Cisco technology such as Webex integrated virtual consultations.

Researchers have developed smartphone-based software that uses AI enabled cameras to help monitor patients’ rehabilitation exercises to ensure that they are doing them correctly, to aid rapid recovery from operations.

The initiative is also using AI technology, such as dynamic appointments which automatically triage patients with chronic diseases to an appropriate outpatient clinic slot based on their clinical needs.

To date, in the initial setup stage of the project in Ireland, approximately 350 ‘bed days’ have been saved by patients who have been supported at home via a COPD virtual care pathway as part of the project.

The initiative will support hundreds of patients across the diabetes, COPD and heart failure and atrial fibrillation virtual care pathways in the Galway region, with virtual outpatient clinic to be rolled out in 2025.