Capita provides Cisco IT for Tunbridge

Cisco’s medical grade network infrastructure has been installed at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust’s new hospital.

The £225m Pembury Hospital is replacing two acute hospitals, and will be the first in Britain to offer patients their own room with en-suite facilities.

The trust’s ICT programme manager, Keith Swaden, told eHealth Insider the new hospital presented a need for “a very flexible and agile IT infrastructure”.

The Cisco medical grade network infrastructure includes wireless local area network, security systems, IP telephone system, in patient-room entertainment and a data centre.

It will enable the trust to provide a modern IT environment for its clinicians who will, for example, be able to access the PACS on mobile devices.

IT services provider Capita was responsible for installing the network under a contract worth £3.4m, and will continue to provide maintenance and support over the next three years.

Swaden said the initial installation phase was a success. “We had some problems with the telephone system, but other than that the actual IT implementation has been very successful – we have had no interruptions of services.”

The first patients moved into the new hospital in January, when major departments swuch as maternity services, pharmacy and medical imaging transfered to the new site.

The second phase of the move will take place this September, when the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells closes.

Swaden said most of the installation of IT infrastructure was completed ahead of the first patients moving to the hospital.

Cisco’s regional sales manager Terry Espiner said the new hospital provided a unique situation in which the entire infrastructure had to be implemented at once.

“Because it’s a new build it becomes a single project – quite often trusts will upgrade on an evolutionary basis, but with this being a new build you need to put the infrastructure in before delivering any services to patients.”

Espiner said Cisco now has a data network in about 130 out of the total 170 acute trusts in England and Wales.

The implementation of an overlaid wireless network will be part of the second phase, including implementation of an RFID tracking system.

Business director at Capita, Andy Hvass, said it’s important for hospitals to have an integrated ICT infrastructure.

“The new hospital is a state-of-the-art development that requires a reliable, high performing ICT network to match. The solution will not only meet the hospital’s current requirements, but is also flexible enough to meet future demands.”

The hospital will have capacity for more than 500 patients, and has been funded under a PFI deal.