NSW-first Health Prototyping Centre now operating in Macquarie Park
The look and feel of future healthcare is being tested at New South Wales’ first Health Prototyping Centre (HPC), which is now open in Macquarie Park innovation district.
The Centre - a joint initiative of eHealth NSW, HealthShare NSW, Health Infrastructure NSW and NSW Health Pathology - is a dedicated incubation space for clinicians and system experts to rapidly test ideas, designs and concepts before they’re implemented in the public health system. This can save time and money when developing complex solutions for today’s health challenges; for example trialing the layout of a new hospital ward before it is built.
The Macquarie Park based facility includes a warehouse space that is highly configurable to a range of clinical scenarios. There is also a team of technical and design experts on-hand, clinical simulation suites, tooling, technology and more.
Facility tour:
Several projects have already used the space to explore a range of solutions, including the HPC being used to rapidly prototype and configure the Pathology Lab in Blacktown Hospital.
This collaboration helped the project team visualise a new space at 1:1 scale, co-design laboratory settings with the people who use them, sign-off on lab redevelopment layouts with evidence, and rapidly test multiple layouts and workflows in real-world settings.
“Overall, the space allowed the team to find out what did and didn’t work early on and has provided more confidence to the lab team that they’ve created a winning design for the lab ahead of implementation. The team also identified what they need to start changing now which should make the transition easier”, said Dr Alex Garret, Service Designer at NSW Health Pathology.
General Manager at Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District, Mark Ames, spoke to the value in the HPC’s Macquarie Park location:
“With affordable space, easy access to greater Sydney and a thriving medical research ecosystem, Macquarie Park innovation district will be a great home for New South Wales’s first Health Prototyping Centre.”
“With a teaching hospital and the Australian Hearing Hub nearby, plus plans for the State’s first Pilot RNA Manufacturing Facility underway, this is another fantastic health innovation asset that helps make Macquarie Park a place to thrive.”
