DHEZ news

DHEZ seminar series

Coming up: A Virtual Royal Infirmary: The Patient Education Workstream

Wednesday 30 October 1pm – 2pm

With our speaker Christos Fysarakis

See the full schedule of DHEZ seminars and book your place.

Presentation taking place in DHEZ lecture theatre

Recent news

DHEZ profiled on Universities UK website

Universities UK recently highlighted University Enterprise Zones (UEZs) and how they can contribute to the government goal to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030. The Digital Health Enterprise Zone was singled out for its work supporting wider business communities as well as our students and health and social care partners.

Read the article on Universities UK, plus a further article on the site going in to more detail about UEZs, using DHEZ as a case study.

PhD Research findings presented as animation

Oladayo Bifarin, PhD at the Centre for Applied Dementia Studies, has worked with the Digital Working Academy based at the University of Bradford to produce a short animation to illustrate the findings of his project Perceptions and experiences of caregivers of older relatives in mainland China - a multigenerational study.

Oladayo explains his reasons for producing the video:

"I wanted to make key findings accessible to general public to raise awareness around the need for culturally sensitive interventions and reinforce co-production strategies with family caregivers with the hope that it shapes future discourses around care for older relatives with a specific reference to Chinese society."

Watch the full video, right, and find out more on Oladayo Bifarin's postgraduate profile page.

Award winning app for plaster cast patients

In October 2021, Charlene Brown and Ben Gracey, Plaster Technicians at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were presented with a national Nursing Times Award at a prestigious event in London hosted by BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The award was for the use of Technology and Data in Nursing and related to their innovative development of a mobile app, accessed via a QR code embedded in a patient’s plaster.

The award was given in recognition of Charlene and Ben’s quick response to patient empowerment and aftercare, by designing a mobile app for plaster cast patients to access as part of their treatment journey. Patients are able to view information, pictures, and videos that help them to better understand their plaster and how to look after it. Built up from years of experience in dealing with patient aftercare of plasters, the team were able to address all the regular problems a patient might encounter and provide targeted advice and guidance.

Display table showing plaster casts and the plaster cast QR code stickers — An exhibition stand showing a plaster cast, the stickers and how they work.

Charlene and Ben worked with Ahmed Sher Malik and Anna Laurika, two University of Bradford media and computing graduates assigned to the project by the Working Academy scheme. Charlene and Ben also worked with Joran and his supervisor Dr Takao Maruyama from the faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences. Joran Laisina was selected by the University’s Digital Health Enterprise Zone to evaluate the impact of the technology.

Simon Couth, Head of the Working Academy said "This PlasterRoom QR code mobile web app was a brilliant example of how collaborative working for digital health innovation can be both fun and productive. Charlene and Ben were passionate and determined to see their idea come to fruition.“

Professor Liz Breen, DHEZ Director commented on DHEZ’s involvement in the project “The evaluation of health improvement projects using digital solutions within the NHS provides an excellent research and teaching opportunity for our students. This project is amazingly beneficial to our patient community and the team deserved to be commended for their efforts.”

Having the QR code on the plaster cast linked to the app resulted in an 85% reduction in visits to hospital and a 75% reduction in phone calls about casts. Charlene stated that “The early data indicates that the investment made to produce the technology will soon be offset by the savings in staffing resource.”

This initiative also won a government Smarter Working Lives Award for best small project. The smarter working lives celebrates innovation, collaboration and excellence. It is a platform to recognise the significant achievements made towards Smarter Working and the commitment demonstrated by individuals, teams and organisations to drive positive change.

Watch our video on the PlasterRoom project to find out more.