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Insight Fast Start Service Enables Hospital to Quickly Minimise Patient Contact and Improve Acute Care during Covid-19 

London, UK, August 25 2020 – Insight, a Fortune 500-ranked global provider of Intelligent Technology Solutions, today announced that Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust – one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals – is pushing forward the future of healthcare using Insight’s Fast Start service along with Microsoft’s mixed reality solutions, HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist for a number of innovative acute care use cases. Clinicians have been using the immersive technology to collaborate in a way that simply would not have been possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making decisions that have already resulted in lives being saved.

Moving forward Alder Hey will have the ability to develop new use cases to advance what’s possible in healthcare today, grow its capabilities to support clinicians in hospitals across the UK and worldwide, and develop applications that support medical training and other related areas such as community based care.

“While Covid-19 has acted as a catalyst, mixed reality devices like HoloLens that can support collaboration, mobility and remote learning need to be part of the technology we use to drive a healthcare revolution,” said Rafael Guerrero, Director of the Heart Centre and of Innovation at Alder Hey. “Using HoloLens we have already demonstrated the potential of mixed reality healthcare applications to minimise the number of staff required to be in contact with patients; share expertise in the shortest possible time and from any location; and ultimately increase the quality of care. However, there are many more opportunities to integrate the technology with other systems. For instance, as a centre of expertise for congenital heart treatment responsible for more than 8.5 million people across Wales, North-West England and the Isle of Man, these applications would allow us to support clinicians and patients both in other hospitals and in the community, without the need for travel in either direction – helping the NHS treat patients and share expertise more efficiently to improve patient care.”

The Heart Centre at Alder Hey currently uses HoloLens 2 to support clinicians in acute care scenarios whilst remaining heads-up and hands-free to concentrate on their tasks – allowing users to share information and their exact view in high definition without pausing their work or holding additional devices. This has helped to reduce the number of clinicians around the bedside during ward visits, support emergency procedures by dialling in additional expertise when required, and enhance surgery by using visualisation of 3D models to aid clinicians when performing heart procedures.

Alder Hey and other NHS trusts have used Insight’s Fast Start service to ensure that healthcare specialists can begin using HoloLens 2 and Remote Assist technology as soon as possible. Insight provides remote support, including troubleshooting and practical advice, to help clinicians enable and realise the use cases they need and put their technology to immediate use.

 “HoloLens isn’t only helping us adapt to Covid-19, but to better prepare for other challenges the NHS faces,” said Phuoc Duong, Paediatric Cardiology Consultant at Alder Hey. “For instance, we can now minimise the impact of potential outbreaks such as MRSA. We can not only minimise the number of people who need to physically meet patients, but also allow clinicians to operate more effectively as a group. For example, our consultants have been able to share expertise from anywhere during important surgeries; whether operating on a baby’s heart the size of a strawberry, or accurately placing stents in patients’ blood vessels.”

“It is inspiring to see how NHS trusts are using Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist during the Covid-19 pandemic,” saidAlex Montgomery- Director of Innovation, Microsoft UK , Microsoft.  The tools empower clinicians to collaborate more efficiently by working together from different locations, solving vital problems in real time.  We are looking forward to working with Insight and the NHS on further projects, including rolling out Microsoft 365 digital tools to the NHS in England.”

“Similar to other hospitals worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic meant we had to carefully consider how we can deliver care while minimising risks to patients and staff,” continued Rafael Guerrero. “The support we have had from Microsoft and Insight in both supplying the technology and ensuring we can put it into operation and trial new use cases as soon as possible has been invaluable. We are looking forward to working further with both, and sharing our experiences with other NHS trusts, in order to develop the applications that will form the future of healthcare and help prepare for future pandemics.”

“Across the public and private sectors, the Covid-19 outbreak has driven faster adoption of innovative technologies,” said Wes Platel, UK Digital Innovation Lead, Insight. “Helping organisations such as Alder Hey quickly and effectively take advantage of HoloLens 2 to make a real difference in their delivery of patient care has been hugely rewarding. We are excited to keep working with Alder Hey to see how this technology can continue to push the boundaries of healthcare, by exploring new use cases and integrations with other systems, in order to get new value.”

About Insight:

Today, every business is a technology business. Insight Enterprises Inc. empowers organisations of all sizes with Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions™ and services to maximise the business value of IT. As a Fortune 500-ranked global provider of Digital Innovation, Cloud + Data Centre Transformation, Connected Workforce, and Supply Chain Optimisation solutions and services, we help clients successfully manage their IT today while transforming for tomorrow. From IT strategy and design to implementation and management, our 11,000 teammates help clients innovate and optimise their operations to run business smarter. Discover more at www.uk.insight.com.

 

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.