The NHS has highlighted the importance of digital technology to the quality of care it offers by launching a state-of-the-art testing space.

Livernerds Lab is the first facility of its kind and has opened in Liverpool to trial the latest technologies expected to be rolled out by the health service.

The testing space is made up of two areas that recreate very different environments that patients find themselves in throughout an illness.

Firstly, there is a simulated hospital room, which is often the place that people associate with receiving treatment.

The second area has been set up like a typical home, allowing researchers to see how patients would get on with products and care in this sort of setting.

Experts have fitted sensors, virtual reality and telehealth features into both of the spaces with the help of 5G in order to monitor varying situations.

Over time, clinicians and healthcare professionals will use the lab to be trained on the latest technology, as well as seeing how it can be used to improve patient care.

The initiative is the result of Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Liverpool 5G Health and Social Care all working together.

It’s not just local companies that will benefit from the innovation, as national and international firms will also be able to test their products at Livernerds Lab.

David Walliker, chief information officer at the trust, told Digital Health: “This collaborative work is helping to future proof our local health services and shape how we can deliver world-class healthcare in our hospital and in our community.

“I am delighted to see already how some of our cardiology and respiratory patients are responding to some of the technology.”