E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N

With almost 1150 hospitals and over 7500 health centres in the UK operated by the NHS , it is a mammoth task to manage the 25 million m ² of estates . Add in all different types of care , a system under visible strain and an estate comprising both modern and older buildings , it would seem obvious that technology can help . Our frontline healthcare workers are amazing and often work miracles in the most trying circumstances , so surely it is imperative we try to give them better solutions ?

Is AI the solution , I hear everyone cry ? Well , it absolutely could be , but for this to be a success in many applications , first we need smart networking which also creates effective IoT ( Internet of Things ) solutions . If AI is the brain in the jar , IoT is the agility and data collection that can transform hospitals and health centres into really smart spaces .

Imagine a traditional BMS or

Building Management System , but without any borders , built for 2025 and a time where millions of wireless devices , mesh solutions , wide area networks and super secure cellular options are available as standard . And with plenty of open standard protocols for everything from smart lighting ( DALI ) to EV charging ( OCPP ), the future smart facility can be a unification of proven , non-proprietary technology for lower costs and future-proof deployment .

And the best use cases ? Everything from faster , frictionless patient access using biometrics for access to IoT for tracking vital equipment such as gurneys and even patients . The most insightful , though , could be those that collect and analyse data that will help with the future use of facilities , such as thermal sensor technology that offers heat-mapped occupancy data ( no fear of GDPR issues ) for real-use data using low-cost technology by Danlers . Or amazing new AI-powered smart glasses from RealWare , worn by frontline workers to visualise , undertake and record results for any task . Drive down admin time , always update records , and even deliver on-the-job training by pushing video to users . Another area is smart automation which could deliver huge benefits and remove enormous layers of wasted labour and cost . Take legionella monitoring , which is still usually a manual task ( ensuring flush events take place in every water outlet across every facility ), but could be automated using smart edge devices by Unified IoT that monitor and record temperatures , user flush events and can even create automated flushes to ensure total autonomous compliance . Imagine the savings and what the redeployment of labour could do to make our NHS once again the wonder of the world ? �

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