Patient experience improved at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust with solution from Telindus to support Care Record System

Telindus Ltd has just completed the handover of a major LAN upgrade/extension and new WLAN implementation at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust covering the main hospital and its campus. This forms the foundation for its next generation infrastructure and will enable enhanced functionality of its Cerner Millennium Care Record System. It will also underpin other initiatives that are dependent on wireless to support a modern, paper-light Hospital Trust dedicated to increasing efficiency and improving its standards of care and patient experience.

In March 2012 in the face of strong competition, Telindus was appointed as the preferred bidder, following its response to the OJEU ITT and technical specification produced by leading Project Management and IT consultants, ICT Solutions.

Mark Seager, Director of ICT Solutions, states, "In the face of stiff competition, the key success factors that influenced the Trust's decision to work with Telindus were the strength and scalability of its technical proposal and confidence in its project management and implementation plan."

"The decision has been thoroughly justified as Telindus have successfully delivered this difficult implementation within a live environment, with minimal disruption to the Hospital's core business, on time and within budget. They have also developed a strong working relationship with the Trust that will be the foundation of continued excellence in network performance and reliability. This will contribute to the Trust's drive and commitment to improvement in patient care and efficiency for years to come."

The new network infrastructure will enable secure bedside records management together with real-time e-prescribing and patient administration. As well as improved patient care, the new network will also increase the productivity of clinical staff.

David Edwards, Assistant IT Director at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, states, "The Telindus solution will deliver the scale and resilience needed to support both our Care Record System deployment and further sector-leading initiatives. Telindus has provided a turnkey solution by upgrading and extending our existing LAN, essential to support the inevitable increase in network traffic and utilisation. The new WLAN comprises of approximately 660 wireless access points campus-wide. The collaboration between ICT Solutions, Telindus and internal expertise has resulted in a superior design and project delivery that has ensured the solution will deliver tangible value for the Trust, supporting clinical decisions and driving efficiencies across the hospital."

The design of the WLAN will enable the future roll out of real-time location services (RTLS). RTLS can locate a device connected to the network and pinpoint it with an accuracy down to three metres within the hospital and its campus, providing the Trust with another opportunity to optimise its efficiency and reduce its expenditure.

John Osbourn, Network Services Manager at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, explains, "These are exciting times! Telindus' solution delivers cutting edge wireless technology across the whole campus. It provides the Trust with ground breaking opportunities to exploit IT technology, to enhance our staff's work practices by increasing their productivity and effectiveness, and to improve care and the overall patient experience."

"A key component of the wireless technology is the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) authentication platform technology; it offers us the capability to carry out detailed profiling and posturing of corporate, individual (BYOD) and guest/visitor devices, whilst still retaining the required levels of security essential within a hospital environment. We are also no longer tied to the Windows operating system, as the ISE provides us with a vendor agnostic platform to support mobile devices from any manufacturer."

"We are able to extend access to a broad range of Trust clinicians, as well as visiting healthcare professionals. In the coming months, we will be deploying circa 300 iPads for our clinicians to provide Medicines Management and Clinical Documentation at the patients' bedside. We are also deploying Android devices on all wards for Friends and Family experience surveys. In addition Wireless VoIP has been successfully tested across the site, with seamless integration into the Trust's existing hybrid telephone system. With the right business case, the new network and wireless technology can be exploited across the whole campus."

Marek Lowther, managing director of Telindus, comments, "Transformation of the NHS is placing increasing challenges on Trusts' ICT infrastructure. Our solution for Kingston Hospital NHS Trust provides the scalability to support their ambitions for additional clinical and business services, as well as offering the cost efficiencies demanded by budget constraints."