Intensive care patients at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust have been provided with adapted iPads to allow them to keep in touch with their families. Trollies have been fitted with iPads on levers which tilt over patients, allowing them to make ‘Facetime’ video calls from their beds.
The tablets also use software which offers an easy-to-use system of spelling out words and sentences – enabling communication for patients on ventilators and unable to speak. Dr Will Loh, consultant neuro anaesthetist, had the idea to use the iPads after seeing a patient make an unsuccessful attempt to use the technology. “We had a patient with spinal injuries who was paralysed from the neck down and his wife brought in his iPad. It was put in front of him but it kept falling onto his face so it was no use, but it gave me the idea to try and adapt it,” said Dr Loh. IT project manager, Andy Evison, and his team developed the iPad trolley, sourced the conversation software and also negotiated with one of the Trust’s service providers to ring-fence an allocation of network bandwidth for using Facetime – video communication software from Apple, which allows callers to see and hear each other via an internet connection. “This is especially useful for long-stay patients, including those who have come from a long distance, as it means their families can keep in touch with them and can also have meetings with us, via Facetime,” said Dr Loh. The project was funded by the NHS Northwest Innovation Fund.
