Sensio AS, a provider of care technology in the Nordics, has joined the Innovation Pop-Up at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to launch its RoomMate safety sensor in the UK and help care homes and hospitals to improve falls prevention and promote independent living among the ageing population.
Falls are a huge problem for the NHS, causing an estimated 76,000 hip fractures and costing £2billion every year, equivalent to around 1% of the total NHS budget.
And the problem is being exacerbated by the increasing prevalence of dementia in the UK, with sufferers more at risk of falls.
Sensio is set to pilot the RoomMate care technology at five sites in England and Wales.
The Innovation Pop-Up is an exciting arena with lots of opportunities for those interested in exploring new technology in care and seeing how it can develop services
To date, the Oslo-based company has deployed 10,000 safety sensors at 220 care settings across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland.
Sensio chose Leeds for its UK office as a navigable city with a large teaching hospitals trust and strong track record for spreading innovation in healthcare.
Company spokesman, Sven Seljom, said: “We have been very well received in Leeds and have showcased our safety sensor to many different stakeholders.
“The Innovation Pop-Up is an exciting arena with lots of opportunities for those interested in exploring new technology in care and seeing how it can develop services.”
The trust launched the Innovation Pop-Up in 2021 to bring together entrepreneurs, researchers, and clinicians to create, evaluate, and adopt new products and services to transform health and social care and drive economic growth.
We are helping to establish our trust as the ideal gateway for bringing innovative new technologies to the NHS market for the benefit of patients, providers, and economic growth
To date, it has worked with 150 companies, identified 30 collaborations and 10 funding opportunities, and developed trade links with Israel, Norway, Spain, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, the USA, and Taiwan.
David Brettle, chief scientific officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and founder of the Innovation Pop-Up, said: “We are delighted to welcome Sensio to our growing community of health tech companies at the Innovation Pop-Up.
“We are helping to establish our trust as the ideal gateway for bringing innovative new technologies to the NHS market for the benefit of patients, providers, and economic growth.”
RoomMate is a brick-sized device with a 3D sensor based on infrared light.
It provides automatic notification of potential hazards, such as patients leaving their beds, opening doors, falling, or calling out for help; anonymous digital monitoring with in-built privacy to check up on patients, talk to them, and quickly determine if they need help; and activity monitoring to identify abnormal activity such as disturbed sleep, frequent toilet visits, or excessive bed rest.
We see the UK as a very-positive market, based on the size of the country and the need for digital transformation
Benefits include fewer falls, injuries and ailments, better sleep with fewer physical inspections, less stress and sick leave for care staff, and more time for personal care.
The care technology can also speed up transfers from hospitals by making it easier to care for people in other settings.
In addition, RoomMate aims to help organisations tackle ‘digital fatigue’ by removing lots of different devices such as fall cords, panic buttons, and motion sensors that need maintaining and replacing them with a single passive sensor and a dashboard for care staff.
Seljom said: “We see the UK as a very-positive market, based on the size of the country and the need for digital transformation.
“The NHS is a huge entity in the care world and the NHS stamp of approval would be very good for us.
“We have big plans for the UK and are interested in investing in potential partners as part of our expansion.”