NCHA Smart Ward

In 2025 the Flinders Ward at the Mornington Centre, Bayside Health became a ‘Smart Ward’. The Flinders Ward is a Geriatric Evaluation and Management (GEM) Ward, which is a ward providing sub-acute care for older adults.

What are the aims of this project?

The project aims to benefit patients, clinicians and researchers, by:

1. Improving our understanding of patient behaviours, including movement and social interaction, and how they relate to patient outcomes and events, such as falls, and staff health and safety incidents;
2. Improving our understanding of environmental conditions on the ward and how they relate to patient outcomes and events, and staff health and safety incidents; and
3. Introducing time-saving interventions to improve patient engagement and outcomes, and reduce complications.

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Who set up and funded the Smart Ward?

The Smart Ward was set up by the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, which is a collaboration between Bayside Health and Monash University. The establishment and installation were funded by the Commonwealth Government of Australia.

What is a Smart Ward?

On a Smart Ward, there are electronic devices in the ceiling and on the walls which can help:

• Keep track of patients’ health and wellbeing
• Improve patient care and safety
• Improve the patient experience in hospital

What devices have been installed?

There are several devices installed in patients’ rooms and in the corridors of the ward. These include:

• Environmental sensors for measuring light, noise and temperature in patients’ rooms
• Bluetooth low energy (BLE) sensors which will connect to tags on patients’ wrist bands and enable tracking of patients’ locations and movements around the ward
• Radar sensors in patients’ rooms for detecting patient events, location and movements
• An electronic nurse call system
• A wall-mounted touch-screen tablet to enable patients to receive messages, make video and phone calls, play games, listen to the radio, watch shows and look at photos.

What information is collected by the Smart Ward?

Information is collected about:

• The light, noise and temperature in patients’ rooms
• Patients’ whereabouts and movement on the ward
• In-room events
• Patients’ use of the nurse call button
• Patients’ use of the touch-screen tablet

What happens to this information?

Data collected by the devices are stored securely and linked with patients’ medical records. This information may be used for research purposes, but only after removing all patient identifying information and appropriate ethics approval.

Want to know more?

Please contact us at ncha-enquiries@monash.edu or P: (03) 9788 1722