An old ward at Gosford Hospital is now home to a new Ideas Hub, a space for health experts and local businesses to tackle healthcare challenges in local hospitals through innovative technology.
CCLHD Chief Executive, Dr Andrew Montague, said the Hub is a place on hospital grounds for local businesses, students, entrepreneurs and health staff to collaborate on projects that aim to make processes easier.
“This is about leveraging local expertise to improve how we work and care for people in our hospitals and community health services, while highlighting the local career opportunities available to local talent to encourage them to keep their skills on the Central Coast,” Montague said.
He said having the Ideas Hub located within the hospital allows for more communication with staff and a strengthened connection to the University onsite.
“We have two innovative areas on this campus; we are really excited about what it will do for care going forward,” he said.
“Because through research and development, that’s how you start improving the care provided.”
The first idea to come out of the Hub is a software called Spotto – a Bluetooth tracking software providing a real-time position on the status of equipment in the hospital.
Spotto CEO, Alan Williams, said Gosford Hospital’s Operating Theatres first piloted the Bluetooth project, which has now been in action for four months.
“The system works by having Bluetooth readers plugged into available power points,” Williams said.
“Once turned on, they connect to Wi-Fi automatically.
“Bluetooth tags are then placed on the assets being tracked – like monitors and medical equipment – so that the Bluetooth readers can recognise them.
“Then Spotto’s web-based search engine, which is accessible using any device, starts returning real-time results instantly.
“If you are an innovator and you have a novel idea, what you want to be able to do is be with the people who have problems.
“What we tried to do was focus on problems that were important but were solvable quite quickly – those seemed to be process problems.
“There are so many things in a hospital environment where by solving a simple process problem, you can increase the effectiveness of staff dramatically.”
Perioperative Nurse Manager, Tracy Kerle, said Spotto saves staff time as they do not have to search for equipment.
“Before, when we could not find equipment, we would have to send people outside to look for it, and then we would lose them for around 20 mins,” she said.
“Now they can get on a computer or the mobile app and find the equipment straight away.”
Montague said the Ideas Hub is so far not funded.
“Basically, it has been a lot of goodwill, people putting extra hours above their normal jobs,” he said.
“It really has been a passion project for people to get it up and running, and we are now in that phase where we want to grow, so we are looking for funding opportunities and streams to make that happen.”
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch, said it was pleasing to see first-hand the significant benefits of the Spotto Bluetooth project.
“It’s great to see the project making such a difference to hospital patients and staff,” Crouch said.
“The real-time feedback is particularly impactful in the Operating Theatre setting when time is of the essence.
“It can mean more efficiency for surgeons, and patients spend less time on the operating table.
“I want to congratulate CCLHD staff for working ‘smarter’ to provide high-quality health care to our growing community on the Central Coast.”
Jacinta Counihan