Parcel delivery innovator DPD is backing a new innovation programme for Alder Hey Hospital to help transform Paediatric healthcare.
Run by specialists in corporate innovation, L Marks, Alder Hey’s first start-up accelerator programme is designed to discover innovative solutions to support children, young people and their families.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust provides care for over 330,000 children and young people every year. One of four stand-alone children’s hospitals in the UK, it is a national centre for neuro and craniofacial surgery, a regional centre for burns injuries and a Centre of Excellence for children with cancer, heart, spinal and brain disease. Alder Hey is the first accredited Investing in Children hospital in the UK.
The 10 week programme, started on 10th January, following a pitch day in November where ten startups presented their ideas. Two were selected following the pitch and they will now work alongside key stakeholders at Alder Hey to develop and test their solutions.
This will be followed by a four week ‘commercialisation’ period when the startups will be supported in validating their solutions with support from Alder Hey and the corporate partners.
The two categories and the selected startups in the first stage of the Alder Hey Innovation Lab are:
Bringing User Experience (UX) to the patient experience; Gamification & the child WOW factor. In partnership with DPD.
Orbital is a digital agency using Augmented Reality in interactive gamification. They have previously developed an app called Myspira which looks to engage children in their asthma treatment. For Alder Hey, they are looking at the possibility of a similar app to tackle childhood obesity, which is a key issue the hospital is looking to tackle through gamification.
Hospital Optimisation; Rethinking the end-to-end journey. In partnership with Regatta.
Startup BlockDox has been selected for this category. They are focused on AI and sensors for the management of buildings, including operational efficiency, space utilisation and air quality. For Alder Hey, they are looking to use sensors to monitor patient flow within the A&E department.
DPD director Tim Jones is working with the Alder Hey programme, and commented, “Investing in innovation is absolutely crucial to what Alder Hey do and achieve, both now and into the future. This programme is part of the process of ensuring they continue breaking new ground and setting the benchmark for children’s care in the UK.
“It is incredibly exciting to see the ideas being developed and to be part of the team involved in supporting the process. Alder Hey are very open to fresh insights and innovation from outside the healthcare community, so this is a great example of different influencers with diverse perspectives coming together to create something new.”