Patients, visitors, and staff at an Essex hospital are benefitting from extensive Wi-Fi connectivity improvements, thanks to a partnership between industry and the NHS. Broomfield Hospital, near Chelmsford in Essex, has undergone significant additions and upgrades to its Wi-Fi network, supporting hospital systems and giving a more consistent service to clinical staff.
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 points and 84km of new network cable and 3km of patch cables. Now 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 the Trust’s Digital Services, Estates and Facilities and clinical teams with the firm.
“Having a robust Wi-Fi connection is a huge milestone,” said Dr Laura Harding, Medical Director at the Trust. “It helps us use the increased range of healthcare systems and access critical patient data more quickly, resulting in more efficient care for patients. We can now focus on using more technology in the future without worrying about connection speeds and accessibility problems.”
In Theatres, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Dr Dilshan Arawwawala, said: “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: “Staff are ecstatic with this improvement. 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, said: “Broomfield is the first of our Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation 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.”
The new network is a key part of the Trust’s Digital Strategy.
