FUTURE HOSPITAL

In recent years, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust has been laying laying the foundations to implement the next generation of healthcare – environments, designs, technologies and systems that will transform the way we care for patients.

As part of our flagship Arts in Health programme, CW+ is working with an ever-expanding range of health technology partners and emerging and experienced artists to elevate the patient environment and enhance staff wellbeing.

RELAX DIGITAL

Our award-winning RELAX Digital programme uses moving imagery and installations to distract and relax patients in waiting and treatment areas. We continue to commission artists to work with immersive, virtual and mixed reality. This includes virtual landscapes and skyscapes, AI immersive art and other projects that bring the outside world into our hospitals.

We have commissioned works by Royal College of Art graduates and emerging and established digital artists and animators, and featured world-renowned artists including Brian Eno and Isaac Julien.

VIRTUAL REALITY

We have facilitated several Virtual Reality (VR) studies and ongoing projects at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital. In partnership with DR.VR by Rescape Innovation, this includes an evaluation in Children’s A&E and Burns around the use of the DR.VR headset to improve anxiety and pain levels; a Sleep Study in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU), monitoring the effect of VR on sleep quality in the ICU environment; and a Cardiac Catheter Lab study (CLeVR) assessing the outcomes of VR with patient anxiety, pain, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac autonomics and respiratory rate. These innovative ongoing studies combine clinical observation, patient questionnaires and clinician lead research, with a bespoke VR kit and data collection equipment.

We have collaborated with film artist Leon Ancliffe from Flix Films to create a series of bespoke VR footage that patients can view using a Virtual Reality headset. Scenes include Clapham Common, Kew Gardens, Richmond Park and a view from the Thames River.

Check out our blog post about the VR content we have commissioned, linked here.

MYHOSPITAL

A new project, MyHospital – Technology Enhanced Patient Care, will enable inpatients to have more control of their immediate environment. Digital sensors will monitor light levels, acoustics and temperature to be then controlled from a patients’ bedside. This project will also form part of the first research study of its kind in the UK – in partnership with Imperial Health and Sonitus Systems.

ROBOTICS AND AI

Our digital health and robotics programme to aid patient wellbeing and recovery launched in 2015 with the Breathing Stone. To further develop this programme, we are exploring new and innovative ways to combine technology and healthcare in an acute environment.

This has expanded into working with robotic companion pets Miro and Paro. Developed by Consequential Robotics, Miro is an artificial dog-like pet who responds to voice, movement, touch and sight through built in sensors and sensory recognition. Similarly, Paro is a tactile pet developed for interaction with older patients, developed by AIST. Another ‘companion’ innovation is under development by artist Min Young Kim in collaboration with Heriot-Watt University. This is in the form of a bedside virtual flower which can be interacted with by patients, to create the sense of nature, life and growth in a clinical setting.

Studio Inneract, founded by Zheyuan Zhang, started work on the Immersive Healing Arts Project in 2019. A dual-screen digital artwork that responds to emotions was launched in the Level 5 Sky Garden at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as the initial pilot of the concept in early 2020.

In 2022 a new version of the work, Rippling Senses, was unveiled on the lower ground floor of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. It uses bodily movement and facial recognition sensors to generate bespoke artwork created by an Artificial Intelligence algorithm. The intention is to create healing art that interacts with people in an intriguing way, counter-acting negative emotions and inducing positive ones.

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

Innovative uses of music and sound technology have been shown to have benefits for patients in a number of medical environments. Andrew Hall, our Sound and Research Consultant, works closely with hospital staff and patients to research and create bespoke audio projects or installations which can be tailored towards specific areas of the hospital, creating the optimum healing environment. Read more about Andy's work here.