Scottish hospital set to debut robotic staff

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A Scottish hospital is to become the first in the UK to trial the use of robots to carry out day-to-day tasks.

The Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Stirlingshire, which is set to open in August, will make use of robot helpers to carry clinical waste, deliver food, clean the operating theatre and even dispense drugs.

The robots are currently undergoing final tests ahead of the hospital opening, and NHS Forth Valley chairman Ian Mullen says the robots will be one of a number of advanced design features that will “improve patient care and improve the life of staff”.

“Members of staff will use a hand-held PDA to call up the robot to move meal trays, or linen, or whatever,” Mullen told the BBC. “The robot will come up in the service lift by itself, pick up the item and go back into the lift.”

The hospital's robotic staff will have their own network of corridors underneath the hospital to allow them to move as efficiently as possible, and will be given a pre-programmed set of routes to follow to accomplish various tasks, complete with the ability to tell doors to open.

“The robots will follow the system using a series of laser beams which will tell each one exactly where it is,” said Tom McEwen, project manager for manufacturer Serco.

According to infection control nurse Lesley Shepherd, one of the major benefits of the new additions to the hospital staff is their usefulness in helping to control infection.

“Traditionally clean and dirty tasks are carried out by the same person,” Shepherd said. “Here, you'll have the robots that do dirty tasks, so they may take dirty linen or clinical waste away, and you'll have robots that do clean tasks, such as bringing meals and clean linen to patients. They have separate lifts so there's no way they can cross, which is great.”

Hospital managers insist the robots will not replace humans, but will free up more time for staff to spend with patients. Standby staff would also need to be in place should any of the robots break down.

“Staff are very pleased. It is exciting to be the first in the UK to do this,” said NHS Forth Valley spokesman Elspeth Campbell.

“We know they work well in other hospitals elsewhere in the world. While it is new, we aren't nervous because we know it is a system that works well.”

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