UK’s National Health Service to begin trial of smart goggles for nurses on home visits

High-tech smart goggles will be worn by community nurses on home visits in an effort to free up time with patients as part of a cutting-edge trial in eastern England announced by the U. K.’s National Health Service (NHS) on Saturday.

The state-funded health service said that as long as a patient consents, the virtual reality-style headset could transcribe the appointment directly to electronic records, reducing time-consuming administration tasks for nurses.

Staff will be able to share live footage directly with hospital colleagues to get a second opinion, avoiding the need for further appointments or hospital admissions, and includes thermal imaging to help assess how wounds and injuries have healed.

“Some of the best innovations come from local solutions and so through this project, NHS staff can test what works for them and what provides the best possible care for patients,” said Dr. Tim Ferris, NHS director for transformation.

“These new smart glasses are the latest pioneering tech and really show us what the future of the NHS could look like – they are a win-win for staff and patients alike, freeing up time-consuming administration work for nurses, meaning more time for patient care,” he said.

The trial begins next week

The glasses, which also help nurses look up their next appointment that day and check how long it will take to get there based on live travel updates, will be tried in Northern Lincolnshire and Goole from next week.

Community nurses are estimated to spend more than half of their day filling out forms and manually inputting patient data.

The pilot will help to expand their capacity, giving them more time for clinical tasks such as checking blood pressure, dressing wounds and assessing patient’s relevant health needs, said NHS England as it awarded the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust £400,000 to test the technology as part of a wider innovation project set to fund a further 16 pilot projects over the coming months.

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NHS deploying new tech

It forms part of the NHS's long-term plan to deploy the latest cutting-edge technologies while rolling out new innovations and treatments to patients across the country.

Earlier this year, the NHS announced that patients with Parkinson’s disease would be given life-changing smartwatches that allow doctors to remotely assess their condition in a pioneering project.

Clinical nurse specialist Becky Birchall said her team were thrilled to be the first in the country to take the smart goggles on community visits.

"We’re so excited to be the first NHS team in England to try the smart glasses out and can’t wait to take them out on our community visits to see our patients,” said Birchall.

"We currently spend a considerable amount of time writing up our visits to patients and these cutting-edge goggles will really help to cut down the time we need to keep for admin, supporting us to care for our patients,” she said.

Thermal imaging feature

“The glasses have a thermal imaging feature, which I think will be particularly useful for us when we are examining wounds and these features are going to really help us provide the best possible care for our patients,” she added.

The pilot is one of 17 projects across 16 healthcare organisations to receive a share of GBP 6 million of the Digital PODAC Unified Tech Fund – set up by NHS England to tap into the potential of digital technologies to support the delivery of care within the ambulance and community health service sectors.