Partnership between Sony and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital drives innovation in children’s healthcare

Asia Pacific, 22 March 2016: Sony Healthcare Solutions (‘Sony’) and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (‘Alder Hey’) have embarked on a formal partnership to research and develop innovative medical care solutions. Both Sony and Alder Hey believe that there are endless possibilities for using advanced digital technologies in hospitals to significantly improve patient care and experience.

Collaboration is at the heart of this innovative public-private partnership, with both parties making unique contributions: Sony provides access to the latest innovations from across its healthcare solutions portfolio, whilst Alder Hey provides valuable insight and feedback from paediatric medicine professionals, children and young people at the hospital. Sony has established a full time staff presence at Alder Hey, working alongside the hospital’s dedicated innovation team, using technology to solve real life clinical challenges and evaluating the positive impact on patient care. The findings will be published to set an example for hospitals worldwide on the beneficial use of technology in patient care, as well as to inspire further advances in the future.

The innovation partnership was established after Sony supplied equipment for the operating theatres at Alder Hey’s brand new state-of-the art hospital, including the latest procedural and educational technologies. This includes conferencing capabilities inside the operating theatres for connecting with the best experts around the world during complicated procedures, as well as the ability to record surgeries for future training purposes.
During this commercial partnership it became clear that there was great scope to work in a research partnership to apply the use of existing and novel technologies in the hospital environment. So far, the partnership has enabled Alder Hey to be the first hospital in the world to truly explore the possibilities for patient distraction in their day surgery unit, leading to the installation of a large-scale, interactive digital aquarium. Provided by Sony PCL Inc – a division of the Japanese giant which provides digital and video production solutions – the bespoke solution is currently being assessed by the hospital as a method for reducing stress in patients prior to their procedures.

Iain Hennessey, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and Clinical Lead for Innovation at Alder Hey, commented: “At Alder Hey we are open to exploring new ideas and technologies to improve the care of our patients. We have created an innovative hospital and it is fitting that within that we have made space for a research and innovation hub where our scientists and clinicians can freely collaborate with external experts and companies to incubate new ideas, develop and test them and then share the results. Our ongoing work with Sony is really stimulating for everyone involved, and our co-location within a busy hospital means that we can constantly gain input from our key customers; the children and young people.”
“The Alder Hey project is a great example of the wider capabilities of Sony’s healthcare business, showcasing how we can support hospitals and other medical facilities with their entire technology workflow. This doesn’t just mean providing individual products for the operating theatres, but instead acting as an adviser with decades of experience in developing technologies for highly specific professional environments,” said Ludger Philippsen, Business Head at Sony Healthcare Solutions Europe. “We’re very proud at Sony of what we’ve already achieved with Alder Hey in such a short period of time, and we look forward to even more fruitful collaboration in the future.”
To further elaborate on the Sony experience within Alder Hey, David Houghton, Project Manager at the hospital will be presenting at the 3rd Annual Hospital Design & Development Asia. As part of Hospital Week Asia, the two-day conference happening at One Farrer Hotel, Singapore from 29-30 March will provide insights in establishing future-proof hospitals and healthcare built environments.
Drawing on his thirty years of experience in NHS estate management, David will present a session which exemplifies patient-centric design, incorporating ideas from children themselves in the creation of its innovative facilities. Join us at the session to gain insights on how Sony’s technologies create more possibilities and contribute to improving patient care and experience in a hospital environment.
For more information about Sony’s Medical solutions in Asia Pacific, please click here.