For the past month or so we've heard seemingly endless discussions about the NHS, from what's devolved and what isn't to current challenges and promises for the future. While talk continues around top-down reorganisation and the funding crisis, a quiet engineering revolution is going on. A number of things have struck me recently as showing the way in which our health service will actually be transformed. At University College Hospital not far from the EngineeringUK offices, an apparently small change to the doors to wards highlights the potential impact of innovative approaches to significant problems. The 'hygiene handle', as I believe it's called, automatically dispenses alcohol gel when you hold it to open the door. A small change that can stop the spread of disease and really save lives. Then there's the toothbrush that can analyse DNA to detect the onset of cancer or diagnose Alzheimer's disease. That's the type of innovation that has the potential to transform how health professionals monitor and screen patients.
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