Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) represent 4 million cases in Europe annually. These infections result from direct or indirect healthcare interventions, and among these cases, 147,000 patients die annually. In the European Union, the treatments associated with HAIs are estimated to cost around €7 billion yearly to healthcare systems. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for new methods of early detection and treatment of HAIs which include urinary tract infections (UTI's), wound and surgical site infections and respiratory tract infections. The current gold standard for specific pathogenic bacterial identification is based on bacterial culture but this technique is time consuming, typically 48 hours for a result. This time delay means that antibiotics are often used prophylactically on suspicion of infection. Indeed, in wounds, evidence of wound heat, peri-wound redness and patient reported pain are symptoms that can be confused with inflammation rather than infection, leading to potential misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which can contribute to the evolution of antibiotic resistance. HAIs are mostly caused by pathogenic bacteria of the ESKAPEE group, composed of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter species and Escherichia coli. These bacteria can be highly virulent and exhibit antibiotic resistance. Therefore, rapid detection methods of these bacteria could have utility in improving patient care. Here we report a genipin-crosslinked gelatin hydrogel sensing specifically the presence of Pseudomonas strains releasing active metalloproteases.