Robotic cleaners bring Friarage to forefront of innovation

Thanks to generous funding from Friends of the Friarage, the Northallerton hospital is now the first in the UK to use Akara UV decontamination units in a ward environment.

DON’T worry, your eyes are not deceiving you – there are now robots assisting with the cleaning at the Friarage Hospital!

Following positive initial trial results, two decontamination robots from Akara Robotics - winners of the best newcomer award at the Infection Prevention Society Conference 2024 - can now frequently be seen in the hospital’s clinical decisions unit, wards and operating theatres as part of the ongoing trial. Environmental services teams at the Friarage are currently undergoing training on how to programme the robot and work alongside it.

Working in tandem with the strong team of domestic staff the robots serve as a powerful tool to enable environmental services staff to decontaminate rooms with a quicker turnaround time.

Akara’s robot builds on more than a decade of robotics and artificial intelligence research at Trinity College Dublin. Its unique AI capabilities give the robot the ability to operate autonomously, whereby it can navigate and decontaminate rooms based on a programme of cleaning instructions that it is given.

The high-tech machines can be manually operated or programmed to each room’s specifications and will automatically stop if anyone gets too close to the UV light beams. They are easily moved to different areas of the hospital using their handles or via a remote-control handset.

Frontline staff, working with Akara, have created a bespoke workflows app with the aim of removing the need for paper checklists, and providing real-time alerts when rooms are available. James Dunbar, Consultant in Infection and General Medicine as well as chair of the Friarage Clinical Collaborative said, 

"Microbes with resistance to antibiotics are probably the biggest emerging challenge in healthcare today. Our main defence is cleaning and decontamination. Last year our pilot study using Akara technology had amazing results. We are so grateful to the Friends of Friarage for funding our continued collaboration. It is massively exciting to work with absolutely cutting-edge robotic decontamination units and be right at the forefront of innovation."

Susan Watson, Co-chair of Friends of the Friarage said,

"We are proud to have been able to bring to the Friarage Hospital this transformative cleaning equipment which will add a scientific aspect to the excellent work of the domestic team. We are so grateful to the public for enabling us to fund this innovative and highly successful approach to dealing with infection."

Pictured are Akara’s Chief Robotics Officer, Niamh Donnelly with James Dunbar, Consultant in Infection & General Medicine along with members of the Friarage domestic team and staff and trustees from Friends of the Friarage.