University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust: Accelerating recovery through innovative smart wards
Across the Southwest, three principal acute hospitals now operate in close collaboration to deliver care at scale. Yet much of the estate is ageing and requires coordinated investment not only in its physical infrastructure, but also in the digital innovation needed to keep pace with modern healthcare delivery. This mirrors a national picture, where acute estates must establish new, digitally enabled pathways that improve operational efficiency, support new models of care, and elevate the patient experience
As the Solutions Architecture team within the Digital and innovation Service at University Hospitals Plymouth, the team bridge clinical and technical teams and help the organisation adopt new digital solutions. It’s our mission to transform spaces, both inside and outside the hospital, into healthier environments that support staff and patient care. Ultimately, we work to reduce time spent in beds, improve wellbeing and flow, and provide clinical staff more time with their patients.
To achieve this goal, we run pilots based on our foundational work to test digital solutions in real clinical environments. During these trials, staff and patients provide continuous feedback to help us adapt the technologies to meet their needs.
Smart wards for elderly and paediatric recovery
Noise, light, overstimulation, and sleep disruption significantly increase stress for patients. That’s why we developed an innovative smart ward that rethinks how the physical environment contributes to recovery. Initially, the flagship projects focus on supporting the elderly and children, with further smart wards being considered for other departments.
The smart wards evaluate how different aspects of care can be improved with digital solutions, such as:
Fall-prevention and mobility sensors. Helping maintain independence for older patients and intercept harm before it occurs.
Wearable devices. Automating vital sign collection, quickly identifying deterioration, and reducing sleep disturbance and clinical interruptions.
Digital play therapy boxes and interactive kiosks. Supporting children’s mental well-being and emotional regulation during their stay at the hospital.
Virtual windows and calming visual environments. Helping reduce stress, disorientation, and sensory overload in the ward.
Smart lighting. Supporting circadian rhythm and sensory comfort to promote better rest, mood stabilisation, and healthier sleep patterns.
It’s proven that when patients feel calmer, sleep better, and experience less anxiety, they recover faster. And when staff have clearer information and fewer manual tasks, they can spend more meaningful time with patients. With these digital solutions in place, the ward environment becomes a contributor to health rather than a barrier to it.
Through this pilot and others, we will add to our foundational research, evidence gathering, and detailed documentation — ensuring every step to deployment is clinically aligned and grounded in the needs of the people who use the spaces every day.
Impacting the future of recovery
As we continue to innovate and iterate, the full impact of the smart ward and its digital solutions is still evolving. In one of our pilot trials, many parents and carers noted that digital play can distract children from unfamiliar or potentially stressful environments and reduce boredom. They also expressed that digital play helped children remain calm and lessen anxiety before their hospital appointments.
Empowering staff and patients with AI
Our team also leads other vital transformative projects across healthcare. Our team has authored and globally distributed pioneering AI guidebooks, hosted by the NHS website and adopted in 29 countries, which simplify and demystify artificial intelligence for healthcare professionals.
From isolation to integration
Our mission doesn’t stop there. Over the next few years, we aim to move from isolated technology assessments into integrated, holistic solutions that improve the patient experience across pathways. We want to expand the smart wards, continue to strengthen the hospital environment, and advance tools that support prevention, early intervention and efficient clinical workflows.
Our plans directly align with the NHS 10 year health plan and their long-term priorities, including personalised care, modern digital infrastructure, patient safety, and workforce optimisation. Through our high-quality research and structured deployment pathways, we’re supporting not only transformation at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust but scalable learning across the wider NHS and other healthcare organisations.
A collaborative approach
Our immense progress so far has been driven by strong clinical partnerships, particularly the exceptional support from the teams within healthcare of the elderly and paediatrics. Their openness, insight and willingness to engage with new ways of working have been central to moving the programme forward.
Our partnership with The Lister Alliance has been crucial in providing additional funding and support, enabling us to work at pace and trial a wider range of solutions — ensuring we have a holistic view of how to meaningfully enhance the ward environment. Technology matters, but the process, the partnerships and the people are what make innovation safe, meaningful and ultimately successful.