30 January 2014
A growing number of healthcare organizations are seeking to reduce administrative burdens and as far as possible eliminate manual processes through digital hospital transformation programs. Such a vision is becoming a reality for Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. One of the largest single-site district general hospitals in London with over 3700 staff and the city’s second biggest maternity unit, it also provides accident and emergency and a full range of diagnostic and treatment services to a catchment of 320,000 people.
The original LAN infrastructure, installed in 2002, was due for a refresh. Alongside, the hospital wanted a wireless network supporting mobile devices to further its aims of digitizing paper records and using IT solutions to streamline and extend healthcare to the bedside.
“The hospital’s strategy is to use IT to improve patient care, which depends on effective wireless networking,” says John Osbourn, network services manager at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “A major objective is to enable mobile computing at the bedside so medical teams won’t need to rely on paper notes when walking around wards.”
