NHS Foundation Trust to meet its targets through wireless technology

European Electronique, a leading technology company specialising in ICT solutions, has been appointed to implement a site-wide wireless system to help processes and systems in St. Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey, and Ashford Hospital, Middlesex, which will enable them to become more efficient, reliable and secure.

Hospitals can benefit a great deal from wireless solutions which are designed to afford health professionals secure, robust and reliable access to patient records and other critical clinical data.  In deploying Generation 4 wireless, doctors and nurses can now access, record and update patient records, place pharmacy orders and even dispatch discharge letters to GPs, all from the patient’s bedside.  Furthermore, patient waiting times can more accurately be assessed and managed, and treatment and medicines prescribed without risk of the human error associated with handwritten records and communications which will now be improved right across the Trust through the usage of high-speed wireless. 

In short, NHS trials have highlighted a 25% increase in productivity and a 32% reduction in travel times together with a 96% rate of completion of patient & clinical record updates on the day, compared to a manual transcription mean time of around 48 hours.

European Electronique began deploying multiple sites across both hospitals with Xirrus, a high performing wireless network, in Spring 2010. The final implementation will complete in June 2011.

Some of the key benefits that the new wireless system will bring to the hospitals are:
- Access to patient records, patient and asset tracking through Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) and secure patient internet access
•- Deployment of Generation 4 wireless will enable doctors and nurses to access, record and update patient records, place pharmacy orders and even dispatch discharge letters to GPs, all from the patient’s bedside
- Effective tracking of expensive hospital equipment
•- More accurate assessment and management of patient waiting times
•- Prescribing treatment and medicines without risk of human error associated with handwritten records
- Improved communications throughout the Trust through the usage of high-speed wireless
- Better protection of those patients considered ‘vulnerable’ through the use of the same technology (RFID) used to track hospital equipment.

Yolanta Gill, CEO at European Electronique comments: “"Wireless technology is essential in helping hospitals to run smoothly and efficiently. Not only can it make processes less laborious it can help keep important data, records and hospital equipment secure.  We are thrilled to be helping Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals through implementing Xirrus wireless technology.

“"With the NHS tasked to reduce its expenditure by at least £15 billion by 2014, it faces a huge challenge in meeting government targets covering efficiency, quality of service and data protection.  Our vast experience in the healthcare sector enables us to source, implement and manage projects resulting in, amongst other things, considerable financial savings. The benefits the technology can bring to the NHS ranges from accessing records at a patient bedside to locating extremely expensive equipment that could be on the other side of the building.  It’s not just staff that benefit but patient experience improves by reduced waiting times due to more efficient processes.”"