News

Community nurses trial ‘smart glasses’ intended to cut admin

Nurses at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust are the first to use the goggles, which automatically transcribe appointment information

Nurses at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust are the first to use the goggles, which automatically transcribe appointment information

The React to Red team at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, including Becky Birchall (bottom, left)

Community nurses will be making quite a spectacle as they become the first to trial virtual reality-style goggles on home visits – a move that NHS England says will maximise time with patients.

The smart glasses will transcribe appointments directly to electronic records in a bid to reduce time-consuming administration tasks.

Piloting new technology as part of wider innovation

The goggles will be piloted in the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLG) area from next week by the React to Red (tissue viability) team, after NHS England awarded the trust £400,000 to test the technology as part of a wider innovation project.

‘We’re so excited to be the first NHS team in England to try the smart glasses out and can’t wait to take them out on our community visits to see our patients,’ said NLG clinical nurse specialist Becky Birchall.

‘We spend a considerable amount of time writing up our visits to patients, and these cutting-edge goggles will help to cut down the time we need to keep for admin, supporting us to care for our patients.’

Cutting admin and getting a second opinion

The new technology is intended to give nurses more time for clinical duties, such as checking blood pressure, dressing wounds and assessing a patient’s health needs. Community nurses are estimated to spend more than half of their day filling out forms and manually inputting patient data.

The goggles will allow staff to share live footage directly with hospital colleagues to get a second opinion, avoiding the need for further appointments or hospital admission. They include thermal imaging to help assess how wounds and injuries have healed.

Criticism of pilot scheme on social media

But while staff welcomed the use of the pioneering technology, some NHS workers on social media criticised the allocation of funds and said ‘it would not solve the problems’ and pressures faced by nurses, and also raised concerns that wearing the goggles might hinder communication with patients.

NHS director for transformation Tim Ferris described the technology as a ‘win-win’ for staff and patients.

‘These new smart glasses are the latest pioneering tech and show us what the future of the NHS could look like,’ he said. ‘They are a win-win for staff and patients alike, freeing up time-consuming admin for nurses, meaning more time for patient care.’


In other news

Jobs