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An IoT-powered hand sanitiser dispenser聽is to be rolled out at Alder Hey Children鈥檚 Hospital聽following a trial.

The technology was created by Richard Cooke, former director of infection prevention and control at Alder Hey, who came out of retirement in 2017 to found start-up Hy-genie.

tracks and records usage of sanitation stations聽across hospitals to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections, a subject close to Cooke’s heart.

In an interview with 老九品茶Cloud last year, Cooke聽said he is seeking to revolutionise hand hygiene compliance across the healthcare system and that he planned to put in place a CEO to run the business full-time.

Gavin Delaney, who brings a background in early-stage businesses and tech transfer into the NHS from the private sector,聽took that role聽at the start of the year. Meanwhile Cooke is back working in the pathology lab at Liverpool’s Alder Hey, which is a聽shareholder in Hy-genie. He is also volunteering at the Nightingale in Manchester.

The firm is now moving a 鈥榣ite鈥� version of the hand-washing tracker from testing to live in the coming weeks. Delaney says the unprecedented coronavirus situation presents an “uncomfortable” opportunity to showcase the product’s worth

He told 老九品茶Cloud the move to introduce the smart dispensers is a natural extension of the partnership with Alder Hey.

鈥淵ou almost feel a little bit uncomfortable in being able to benefit as a business out of COVID. People are losing their jobs and the economic outlook doesn’t look great,鈥� he told 老九品茶Cloud.

鈥淲e think it will do a great deal of good. [The hospital] has seen this as a great opportunity, not to move the business forward –聽because that鈥檚 not the focus –聽but how to address some of the issues coming out of COVID.鈥�

The firm鈥檚 full product, Hy-genie, contains three combined聽technologies: a wall-mounted gel dispensing system which counts the number of uses, accompanying badges for health workers which identify who has used the dispenser and a 鈥榟ub鈥� which collects and collates all that data.

The 鈥榣ite鈥� version 鈥� to be rolled out shortly 鈥� will聽include聽just the first and last聽of these technologies. Delaney says amid the enormous pressure of the pandemic, 鈥榓nonymous鈥� collection of hand-washing data is sufficient.

鈥淲hat we wanted to do was get something in that gave visibility, credibility and comfort,鈥� he said.

Cooke has maintained that individual staff will not face repercussions聽if a hospital uses the full product. The goal with either version聽is to use data to聽prevent the spread of infections.

Delaney says information on hand sanitisation performance聽can then be displayed publicly聽alongside other key stats on wall-mounted TVs聽around the hospital, providing reassurance.

The potential concerns previously addressed by Cooke 鈥� that the technology could feel like 鈥楤ig Brother鈥� – are similarly dismissed by Delaney, who said there already exists a great deal of tracking technology in a hospital.

鈥淓very time you touch a pass on a door opener, or you go into radiography, or you get drugs out, you鈥檝e been tracked anyway. So it’s about making sure that it鈥檚 a positive experience, and as little hassle as possible,” he explained.

鈥淲here you have a busy workforce such as hospitals, one of things they don鈥檛 particularly like is people coming, measuring them and telling them that they are wrong. They get a lot of timewasters –聽and it distracts from their core task.鈥�

Delaney said that once lockdown is lifted, it is unlikely that behaviour will聽return to how it was聽before the pandemic. The broad understanding of the importance of washing hands, he said, would help in its adoption before introducing tracking of individuals with that final piece of technology.

鈥淎s a stepping-stone to larger acceptance across the board, it鈥檚 a very good start,鈥� he said of future plans for implementation.

鈥淥nce people see that Hy-genie is installed, it鈥檚 not a massive step to start using badges. You can roll that out incrementally, and get a big penetration with the base system.鈥�

Delaney said that Cooke鈥檚 idea for the technology, which began long before it was an urgent addition to fighting a pandemic, has been completely validated.

鈥淗and-washing and hand-associated infections within hospitals is almost like a Holy Grail. Lots of people are trying lots of ways to address this issue. The thought and detail that has gone into looking into how it might work has been really impressive.

鈥淸Richard] is absolutely passionate about this. It鈥檚 going strength-to-strength on the academic side. It鈥檚 a complete validation of why he went back in.鈥�

Hy-genie is one of many start-ups based at Nova in Liverpool, an organisation which helps fledgling entrepreneurs build their tech ideas into businesses via investment and practical support.