Networking technologies

Technology in Action: Royal Hospitals, Belfast

Wireless communications cut cost and increase efficiency

The Royal Hospitals in Belfast, consisting of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Royal Jubilee Maternity Service, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and the School of Dentistry, is Northern Ireland’s largest and best known hospital complex, treating more than half a million people every year.

With budgets under pressure, many hospitals in the UK have started looking for new ways of doing more with less. Wireless technology is one option, allowing the healthcare sector to improve operational efficiency and enhance patient care, and many institutions have started to take advantage of its benefits.

The Royal Hospitals had recognised the benefits of wireless technology, but its existing network was proving increasingly difficult to manage. The hospital identified the need for a stable, reliable and secure wireless solution for its material management system. Most materials in a hospital have a limited shelf life and it is essential to manage stock properly and cost efficiently. Ease of use through centralised management — and the option to extend the system — were among the key criteria for the Group.

The Royal Hospitals therefore decided they needed a new network to support its material management and turned to network services provider Telindus to design and implement the best solution for its needs.

Telindus proposed a Telindus Secure Mobility Solution based on Trapeze Networks equipment. This allows the customer to easily and securely manage the material system centrally and efficiently. The secure wireless network covers a third of the hospital and is expected to cover the whole complex within the next two years.

Telindus will continue to implement the system and provide ongoing training and support.

“We chose to work with Telindus because it has an excellent track-record in implementing best-of-breed technology solutions”, said Christy Donnelly, Network Manager at The Royal Hospitals. “The Trapeze Ringmaster software is ideal for our needs as it allows centralised management of the system at the touch of a button. Since the wireless network has been installed, we have been able to make considerable cost savings through improved efficiency in the material ordering system — and the design of the wireless network itself means that it has been easy to manage.

“On top of that, people have commended me on the reliability of the network”, said Christy.

To further increase efficiency and productivity for its 6,800 staff, the Royal Hospitals is preparing to pilot a ‘bed head’ prescription solution whereby doctors post prescriptions to the system via tablet PCs. This dramatically reduces administration time from three hours down to one, allowing the hospital to discharge patients and free beds more efficiently. With an average of 100,000 outpatients a year this could equate to an additional 2,000 available hospital beds based on the average patient stay of three days.

The Royal Hospitals is also trialling the use of PDAs, to give staff greater mobility so they can access information and applications from the hospital network from anywhere within a ward. The information is secure and access rights for users are extended from the existing wired infrastructure policies. WiFi tags will allow staff to locate people, drug carts and essential medical equipment in a fast and efficient manner. They also include an alert button for staff and patients, which tracks them on a map so that help can quickly be despatched to their specific location.

Perhaps the most exciting development has been the site-wide deployment of a new voice communication system, called Vocera. Using state of the art recognition software, staff are able to communicate at the simple touch of a button with colleagues across the site, integrating with the Royals’ new IP telephony system and also with external sites. The lightweight badge integrates with and will, in the long term, possibly replace the need for pagers, DECT phones, two-way radios and mobile phones across the Hospital Group.

With all of the functions of a traditional phone, but small enough to wear around your neck, the Vocera communication badge has only two buttons, so true hands free communication is possible.

The Royal Hospitals is the first healthcare trust to introduce a wireless project of this scale; others are introducing applications and systems individually, whereas here, the deployment of so many applications and systems together at one time means the scale of the project is huge and is continuing to grow.