On the second day of the Interregional Seminar in Liverpool, the HELIUM consortium visited the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, the UK’s first cognitive hospital. This state of the art hospital is able to take care over 270.000 children annually since its opening in October of 2015.
The focus of our visit to the hospital was the innovation branch of the hospital. Their approach to innovation is based on the principle that it is easier to modify the existing versus starting from scratch. In this they place a large focus on attempting to make new connections between innovations stemming from different themes and forging cross-sectoral links. The team within Alder Hey is working alongside global companies, regional specialists, regional SMEs and academia to drive the best of new technology into healthcare. Some key areas which they are addressing within the hospital sensor technology, 3D-printing, and ‘neonatal virtual visiting’ through which parents are able to see their new-born babies when they are unable to be with them to tackle to issue of potential parent/child bonding dysfunctions.
Alder Hey represents a great approach towards innovation while keeping in mind the sometimes difficult situations which parents and their children can face.
