Collaborative new ways of digitally supporting safer, more efficient health and care across the care sector - HoloLens

The benefits of a mixed reality headset - Microsoft HoloLens 2 – which is being used by nursing staff at Kendal Care Home to transform their daily ward rounds has been showcased at the HIMSS21 Health 2.0 European Health Conference (7-9 June).

The HoloLens 2 headset was introduced to the care home back in October 2020 and is worn by a nurse at the resident’s bedside. The headset is linked to a Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app which uses Microsoft Teams to send a secure live feed to a computer screen meaning a GP working from their GP practice or remotely can receive a call from the nurse and directly assess the resident through the eyes of the attending nurse.

At the online conference, Dr Colin Brown, Chief Clinical Information Officer for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay (UHMBT), took digital and health leaders through the advantages of using a digital system in the care sector and showcased a short film which can be watched at the Bay Health and Care Partners YouTube site here.

Benefits of the headset include:

• better experience for residents
• supporting remote care in the care sector
• supporting care during the pandemic, including increased safety and reduced infection risk
• the GP can visually assess residents and HoloLens 2 provides better quality images for the GP allowing for diagnosis and a treatment plan
• more confidence for nursing staff and for families that a clinician has seen their loved one virtually.

Dr Brown said: “It's been great to look at collaborative new ways of digitally supporting safer, more efficient health and care across our Partners in particularly our care sector. Working closely with our GP colleague Dr Richard Russell and our colleagues at Kendal Care Home has proven how successful cross-sector partnerships can be and how important it is to explore more opportunities like this in the future for areas like the care sector.

“Going forward I would like to see the development of new connected remote digital pathways in health, community and social care, as well as new ways of supporting remote teaching and professional training, including in universities, surgical and dental training. The future is already here!"

HoloLens 2 has been used to virtually assess 102 residents so far who are bedfast or have skin conditions (leg swelling and skin rashes) which mean they do not have to attend a GP surgery. It has also been used as part of compassionate care to support residents who are nearing the end of their life in line with the Gold Standards Framework.

Kendal Care Home staff are working closely with local GPs to deliver this service, sponsored and supported by Kendal Integrated Care Community (ICC) and UHMBT and enabled by the leadership of Dr Brown. The Trust has worked with care home staff to ensure they are trained and know how to use and clean the headset in the care home setting.

Microsoft HoloLens 2 was initially piloted on the respiratory wards at UHMBT back in June 2020. You can read more about the initial pilot at the Trust’s website here.