Home
HECOIRA
Hospital Environment Control, Optimisation and Infection Risk Assessment is an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research council and University of Leeds four year funded project in collaboration with St James' University Teaching Hospital in Leeds, Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire, Monaghans and Apex4D.
We are working with clinical and industry partners to develop new approaches that optimise hospital design and operation with core infection control and patient wellbeing in mind. This includes the ability to monitor, predict and easily adapt buildings based on patient needs in response to changing environmental conditions.
Infection Prevention & Control
We create tools to guide the selection of infection control strategies by conducting risk assessments and exploring "what if" scenarios. These approaches inform design, day-to-day management and strategies for dealing with events such as an outbreak. Read more...
Indoor Air Quality Sensors
We monitor the indoor air quality (IAQ) of patient rooms including CO2, temperature and humidity using wireless sensor technology. These data will then feed into computational codes which couple with external weather data to predict and manage the patient's environment for optimal comfort and infection control. Read more here.
Real-Time Airflow Simulation
Using an in-house Lattice-Boltzmann code accelerated using GPUs we can use patient room air quality parameters to predict the movement of the air and bioaerosols in hospital rooms. This can help reduce the risk of admitting a patient with an unknown infection by optimally locating them in a particular bed which can diminish the risk of cross-transmission through the air and contaminated surfaces. Read more here.
Partner Locations
We are based in the Schools of Civil and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. Over the next four years we will be working closely with NHS clinical and industrial partners.
St James' University Hospital, Leeds
Hairmyres Hospital, Glasgow
Monaghans
Apex4D
