Healthcare Matters delivers health and social care services across Wales, supporting local authorities, care providers and individuals to deliver safer, responsive care. Following support through the Health+ programme they created Sentrix - a dedicated digital care venture using sensor technology to help care home teams spot risks earlier and support people to live safely and independently.
Health+ is an innovation support programme run through M-SParc that helps health and social care innovators test, refine and prepare solutions for adoption.
Project aims
- To use a smart-monitoring solution in care homes to support day-to-day care, spot risks earlier and help staff respond quickly – improving residents’ safety, independence and peace of mind.
- Support care teams to adopt new ways of working that feels practical, trusted and sustainable, while helping to address workforce pressures and improving safety and independent for those receiving care.
- To accelerate Sentrix’s development and route to market through the Health+ programme, refining the proposition, testing ideas, gaining insight, and building strategic partnerships and connections across the regional health and social care ecosystem.
How the project began
Health and social care services continue to face workforce pressures, with staff shortages, rising vacancies and increasing demand placing strain on already stretched teams. Sentrix was developed to respond to this challenge, shaped by over two decades as a service-led organisation and informed by lived experience of frontline delivery.
The project emerged through a combination of necessity and ambition. Healthcare Matters began holding internal strategy discussions to identify how they could adapt and where innovation could deliver the greatest long-term impact.
The first stage involved defining the challenges to be addressed: improving safety, independence, and responsiveness in social care through digital monitoring and virtual care solutions. From there, the team began mapping the types of technology, partnerships and delivery models that could support this vision.
Support from the Health+ programme helped validate this direction, providing access to a wider innovation network. Through early engagement opportunities, introductions and feedback, Healthcare Matters was able to sense-check the concept and begin shaping Sentrix as a standalone solution with real potential for scale.
Healthcare Matters gained valuable encouragement, insight and connections to explore new digital solutions to meet growing pressures in care delivery. Early-stage trials and discussions were initiated with local care providers and local authorities to better understand frontline needs, alongside exploratory work with universities to support future development and evaluation.
What started as a response to organisational disruption quickly became a structured innovation project - laying the foundations for Sentrix.
How does Sentrix work?
As a smart-monitoring solution, it’s designed to support proactive, preventative, and person-centred care. It combines discreet in-room sensors with a secure digital dashboard that helps care teams respond to risk earlier and more effectively, and least restrictive.
Small sensors are mounted on the ceiling and use radar technology rather than cameras or microphones. This means no visual or audio data is captured, addressing common privacy concerns. Instead, the sensors detect movement patterns and key activities such as whether someone is in bed, getting up, or may have fallen based on their position and activity within the room.
Information from the sensors is displayed through a digital dashboard to the carer/user, typically accessed on a tablet within the care setting. Care staff can view multiple rooms at a glance, each represented by simple icons linked to individual residents. If a fall or high-risk event occurs, the relevant room is clearly highlighted, within alert levels 1-4 allowing staff to prioritise their response. Once an incident is addressed, staff can update the system to record what happened and confirm that the situation has been resolved.
Sentrix can also be accessed via a mobile app, allowing carers to receive alerts directly to their phone while moving around the home, for example during night shifts, or while completing other tasks.
Project challenges
A key challenge for Sentrix was navigating a new space. Moving from traditional equipment provision into digital and virtual care solutions required new thinking, new technical expertise, and different types of partnerships. As with many early-stage innovation projects, there was uncertainty around the best route to market, the right technology model, and how to ensure the solution genuinely met the needs of local authorities, care providers and individuals.
Another challenge included responding to change at pace. Balancing day-to-day operational demands with the development of a new innovation pathway was a significant challenge for a busy, service-led organisation.
These challenges were addressed through collaboration, learning and seeking external insight. The Health+ programme provided valuable encouragement, feedback and connections that helped build confidence and accelerate progress. Engaging with universities, local authorities and stakeholders has also been important in shaping a solution grounded in real-world care pressures.
Project outcomes
- Sentrix is progressing from development into live testing, with potential distribution partners who recognise the growing need for virtual care and smarter monitoring solutions. Trials are beginning across care settings in north Wales [Spring 2026], with an initial pilot followed by another in Anglesey. These pilots will test the technology in real-world environments, refine the service model, and inform the final route to market.
- The impact for patients and service users will be improved safety, independence, and reassurance, supporting people to remain at home for longer with greater confidence. For staff and care teams, Sentrix offers the potential to reduce avoidable callouts, identify risks earlier, and focus time where it’s most needed, helping address increasing pressures across social care services.
- Sentrix is being designed to reduce operational burden, not add to it – avoiding extra layers of cost, effort and complexity by fitting into existing workflows and helping teams to focus time where it’s most needed.
Adam Spiby, Managing Director, Healthcare Matters, said:
“The Health+ programme has been invaluable at a key stage in our journey, providing encouragement, strategic insight and access to a wider innovation ecosystem. Opportunities such as the Health+ Panel helped us sharpen Sentrix’s proposition and build credibility.
The engagement, timely touchpoints and ongoing support gave us the encouragement to move from an initial concept to establishing Sentrix as a dedicated digital care venture. This trusted point of contact through the Health+ programme has provided insight, confidence and access to opportunities that will support our future growth and collaboration.”
Claire Roberts, Responsible Individual, Haulfryn Care, said:
“At Haulfryn, our focus has always been on providing genuinely person-centred care, where dignity, independence and relationships come first. We’re always looking for innovation that can add value to the service. Sentrix felts like the right fit because it works to the same values of Haulfryn, strengthening our approach rather than changing it. The system provides teams with greater insight and reassurance without being intrusive.
We’ve already seen how it builds confidence in our team, they’re able to spend time where it matters, and loved ones have additional peace of mind. The system has also helped us pick up unwitnessed falls, where we may not have known otherwise, giving us the vital opportunity to review and put the right support in place. As a sector we have a responsibility to embrace technology in a thoughtful way. For us, Sentrix is about enhancing care and support rather than replacing it, while supporting our teams to do what they do best.”
Economic benefits
The project has the potential to deliver significant economic impact at both an organisational and system-wide level. Establishing Sentrix as a standalone venture opens opportunities for new revenue streams, wider market reach, and the creation of skilled roles in digital health and innovation across north Wales.
Access to wider innovation support helped Healthcare Matters understand regional priorities and connect with the right stakeholders. Collaboration with Wrexham University – supported through a Knowledge Transfer Voucher, alongside ongoing discussions around a future Smart Partnership has further strengthened the foundations for scaling Sentrix across Wales and beyond. As Sentrix scales, its anticipated further economic benefits through partnerships, supply chain activity, and job creation across Wales.
From a public sector perspective, the project responds directly to the increasing financial pressures facing health and social care services. By enabling earlier identification of risk, reducing avoidable incidents such as falls or long lies, and supporting more efficient deployment of carers and community services, Sentrix has the potential to contribute to cost avoidance and improved resource allocation.
There’s also a wider economic benefit through reduced reliance on reactive care models, fewer emergency interventions, and better support for independent living helping people remain safely at home for longer.
Next steps
The next steps for the project focus on moving from late-stage development into structured delivery and scale. Sentrix is approaching market readiness, and the priority is to launch the solutions in an orderly and sustainable way, ensuring they are embedded effectively within care environments and supported with the right training, service model and governance.
Initial focus will be on the deployment across Wales, working with councils, care providers and strategic partners to demonstrate impact and build strong reference sites, alongside developing distribution partnerships to support wider reach and consistent rollout.
Collaboration with Wrexham University, and Bangor University will continue and strengthen with evaluation, evidence generation and ongoing product development, including the potential progression into a Smart Partnership.
As the model matures, the project will explore opportunities beyond Wales, including UK-wide growth and longer-term export potential, positioning Sentrix as a scalable Welsh innovation to improve care outcomes.
If you’d like to learn more about Sentrix, or explore partnership opportunities, enquire at info@sentrix.com.
Life Sciences Hub Wales and M-SParc
We’ve worked with M-SParc to help deliver the Health+ programme in north Wales. As part of a cross-sector panel, we provided tailored advice to 22 companies developing new health and social care innovations. Six companies were selected for direct support to help progress their innovations towards adoption, Sentrix being one. Over the past year [2025-26], we’ve worked in partnership with M-SParc to strengthen healthcare innovation, engagement and industry support for entrepreneurs and innovators across north Wales. Together, we’re committed to identifying innovation opportunities and supporting the development of solutions to improve effectiveness and efficiency of health and social care in Wales and beyond.
