Patients, visitors, and staff at Broomfield Hospital near Chelmsford hospital are benefiting from extensive Wi-Fi connectivity improvements following significant additions and upgrades to the hospital’s Wi-Fi network.
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust worked with its technical partner, Block, to install new facilities, including four new hub rooms, replacement of 420 wireless access points with 1,200 new ones, 84 kms of new network cable, and 3 kms of patch cables. Now, the Trust says, anyone visiting or working at Broomfield Hospital can rely on ‘a high-speed, secure, and stable wireless connection that makes browsing the internet and accessing multiple health and care systems easier’.
The project involved collaboration between Block and the Trust’s Digital Services, Estates and Facilities, and clinical teams. “Having a robust Wi-Fi connection is a huge milestone,” said Dr Laura Harding, the Trust’s Medical director. “It helps us use the increased range of healthcare systems and access critical patient data more quickly, resulting in more efficient patient care. We can now focus on using more technology in the future without worrying about connection speeds and accessibility problems.”
Chief Clinical Information officer and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Dr Dilshan Arawwawala, added: “Since the Wi-Fi went live, we’ve noticed a significant improvement when accessing many systems, particularly in areas where we’ve never had Wi-Fi before. This is transformative for our team.” Denise Townsend, director of Nursing, said: “Previously, uploading patient observations into our system took several minutes, but it is now instantaneous, saving us a lot of time and frustration.”
Peter King, director of Digital Services, explained: “Broomfield is the first of the Trust’s hospitals to introduce this cutting-edge networking solution that offers the best Wi-Fi for our patients, visitors, and colleagues. Similar work is underway at Basildon and Southend Hospitals throughout the rest of 2024 and 2025.”