Cornwall NHS staff get VoIP phone badges

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has issued its staff with voice-activated handsfree ‘badges’, worn around the neck on a lanyard, which can put any user in touch with another member of staff just by saying their name or department into a microphone.

The Vocera system (below), which was installed and is managed by BT, runs over a 802.11b wireless LAN with uses VoIP technology. BT have placed 500 wireless access points throughout the site through which the devices can communicate.

"Instant, secure and reliable communications are vital in a hospital setting," said Simon Goodwin, direct of IT for the Cornwall NHS community. "The new system is simple to use and will allow us to respond more quickly to our patients’ needs."

Users push a button on the front of the badge to talk and give voice commands. There is also a second, ‘do not disturb’, button that forwards any calls to voicemail or other users’ badges. According to the manufacturers, the talk time is around 2 hours and the standby 44 hours, and charging takes 2 hours.

One benefit of the badges, say BT, is that staff don’t have to remember the names of the people they are trying to contact; if they ask for a pre-defined department they are put through to the first person available.

As well as clinicians, porters also carry the devices. A text-to-voice system is used to direct them to their next job. The badges have also been linked to the hospital’s workflow management system.

Steve Wells, sales director of BT Health, said: "The system overcomes many of the deficiencies of alternative technologies in this highly specialised field and we are delighted to be working with the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, which is trail-blazing this technology in the UK healthcare market."

A spokesperson for Royal Cornwall NHS Trust could not be contacted as of press time.