https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/our-research/drive-unit-for-digital-innovation/innovation-hub/

Innovation Hub

The Innovation Hub supports development and early-stage testing of data and technology solutions to be scaled in practice at GOSH and beyond.

3 people stood looking at a large digital screen with some coloured bar charts

Connecting innovators with world-leading clinical care

Innovation is an opportunity to deliver healthcare in new and better ways, as well as address existing challenges that staff at GOSH can face.

The DRIVE unit is well positioned to catalyse innovation by connecting clinical and non-clinical experts with project support, data science and technology partners, and evaluation with patients and families.

The team also work collaboratively with companies of various sizes across public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Collaborating with partners to share experience and skills is core to our mission, as we know that more can be achieved together.

The GOSH Ideas Platform is a simple form that captures staffs’ issues and ideas. The Innovation Hub works with staff to discover the problems they face and their ideas for how to solve them.

GOSH members of staff can access the Ideas Platform here.

Working with budding innovators from both within and outside of the hospital, the team conduct proof-of-concept testing of new technologies prior to early phase evaluation in hospitals.  Together we understand if the idea or product can become an everyday reality providing benefit for patients, their families, healthcare staff at GOSH and also beyond. 

Collaborative working underpins all of DRIVE's work. The Innovation Hub is a key mechanism for industry partners to engage with DRIVE and explore how their technologies can deliver benefits for children and young people, as well as improving the experience for them, their families and staff at GOSH. DRIVE has partnered with a breadth of organisations bringing together multiple disciplines and areas of expertise.

Find out more about opportunities for commercial and industry partnerships.

Computer screen showing dashboard of data

Project case study: Cardiac Dashboard

In collaboration with cardiology teams, GOSH DRIVE made a new information dashboard that collated and displayed vital data on patient outcomes in a rapid and accessible way. It is estimated to save approximately 10 hours of analyst time per week compared to the time it takes to manually curate the information. It can also improve support for patient care discussions by bringing more useful information together and presenting it all in one place.

Dr Cho Ng, Lead Consultant in GOSH’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit said:

“We had been struggling to find the most efficient way to put together and understand the information we needed, so we worked alongside data scientists at DRIVE to create a new dashboard. This has made the information more accessible for our team within the trusted digital research environment.”

Female clinician sat at desk in clinic room smiling and looking towards patient. Computer screen in background.

Project case study: Ambient Voice Technology (AI-Scribes)

TORTUS began as a concept developed by a small research team, including a DRIVE intern who had begun working with the team through a UCL-GOSH computer science network.

Through collaboration with GOSH, TORTUS evolved into a start-up with a fully functional healthcare solution. The project followed four key phases: sandbox testing, PoC testing, real-world pilot, multi-site scaling across London. GOSH provided a real-world test bed, enabling rigorous evaluation and refinement of the technology.

Following early success at GOSH, NHS England commissioned DRIVE to lead a pan-London evaluation of the technology across 8 NHS setting, with over 17,000 patient encounters. The study and results were hailed ‘transformative’ in national media headlines and were cited in NHS England 10-year plan (pg 54).

This collaboration demonstrated how early-stage innovation can be nurtured into a viable solution when industry and NHS work together.

You can read the full report on our resources page here.

Project case study: On demand catering for patients

Good nutrition is vital for recovery. Having appealing food options available, when a child is hungry can make a big difference to their experience in hospital. Our catering team suggested that an on-demand food service could better meet patients’ needs by providing more choice, and that this could cut down on food waste too.

To evaluate the new approach, DRIVE conducted a survey and interviews with patients, carers, and staff, which engaged almost 200 people.  

There were challenges, but overall, the new approach was found to be beneficial. Work will be done to understand how the system could be rolled out across the hospital, and even in other hospitals across England.  

This project demonstrates DRIVE’s working principles of supporting staff to turn new ideas into action, taking a collaborative approach with children and young people at the centre.