HRH The Prince of Wales Visits Helix Centre

The Prince visited the Healthcare Innovation Exchange (HELIX) pop-up studio, a collaboration between the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London's Institute of Global Health Innovation, before formally opening the Surgical Innovation Centre, a joint initiative of Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Both the the Surgical Innovation Centre and HELIX are located at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. 

Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, said, 'Imperial College London collaborates with partners all over the world, and the HELIX is a wonderful example of our partnership with our closest neighbour, the Royal College of Art.' 

The HELIX pop-up studio, which opened earlier this month (see News story), is uniquely embedded within a public hospital. In its innovative working space, scientists, engineers, designers, policy makers and psychologists work together with doctors, nurses and patients to explore and co-develop new ideas into prototype products, processes and services.

The studio has an open-door policy and will run an extensive programme of training, workshops and seminars in innovation and entrepreneurship for frontline healthcare staff in this new purpose-built and iconic premises.

In the studio HRH The Prince of Wales saw a smartphone app to encourage children with asthma to correctly monitor their condition and improve treatment compliance; a design intervention to improve patient cancer care; a design-led approach to improve uptake in bowel cancer screening; and a card game, called Ujinga, to promote physical activity in older children.

The Prince was welcomed by Baroness Rebuck DBE, Chair-elect of the Royal College of Arts Council, as well as HELIX Co-directors Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, and RCA Rector Dr Paul Thompson. 

‘HELIX brings together design researchers and clinical staff to tackle the big demands today in healthcare. As with previous collaborations with Imperial College London, such as the redesign of the London NHS emergency ambulance, we know that real medical breakthroughs occur when people-centred design innovation and scientific rigour collide,' said Dr Paul Thompson. 'It was wonderful to be able to showcase our work to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, particularly as his interest in healthcare is very much evidenced by his Patronage of many related charities and institutions.'

Professor Darzi said, 'We are delighted that HRH The Prince of Wales has visited the Surgical Innovation Centre. The NHS is under considerable pressure in meeting the challenge of shifting patient demographics, the burden of life style disease and financial constraints. Innovation through better technologies, processes and design can help address the challenges facing health care delivery globally.'

The Prince met with a number of HELIX staff, including RCA graduate Maja Kecman, who has a decade of experience designing new healthcare devices and bringing them to market, and RCA-trained designer Gianpaolo Fusari, who has experience working on design for healthcare, including the award-winning redesign of the UK ambulance. Clinical Lead Dominic King completed the team. 

HRH The Prince of Wales said, 'It's great to see these three institutions working together, the Trust, Imperial College and the Royal College of Art. My great, great, great grandfather, Prince Albert, would have been thrilled!'