Basildon Hospital carries out heart procedures with help of smart glasses

Heart patients at Basildon Hospital are the first in the country to benefit from a new type of wearable technology, that is helping guide hospital staff through complex surgical procedures.

Nurses at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC) at Basildon Hospital are wearing smart glasses, which enable them to receive remote guidance via a live feed from the operating theatre through a high resolution camera.

The procedure that is benefiting from the digital tech is a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), which involves inserting a new valve via a blood vessel in the leg.

Previously, staff carrying out the procedure would be advised by a clinical expert from medical device company Boston Scientific, who would be present in the operating theatre. The new smart glasses mean this expert can now be situated anywhere in the world, helping to save time for patients and staff.

Dr Rohan Jagathesan, medical director at the Essex CTC, said: “This new innovative equipment allows us to be more independent and to carry out more procedures, and means we can treat patients more quickly as we don’t need a specialist to come to the hospital.

“We can also use the smart glasses to train our staff during a simulated procedure and further develop their skills, helping to improve the service we give to our patients.”

Although Essex CTC has carried out more than 500 TAVI procedures to date, this is the first time it has been carried out with remote expertise.

Olivier Lonbois, vice president interventional cardiology and structural heart at Boston Scientific, said: “We are delighted to be able to provide our ExpertLink support to the team at the Essex CTC and the wider cardiology community. It is exciting to be able to provide clinical support using novel technologies that open up more options for NHS hospitals undertaking these types of specialist procedures.”

Basildon Hospital is part of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. Last month the trust expanded its partnership with CareLineLive in a bid to free up 60 beds per day of patients who are in hospital awaiting discharge.