County Hospital Louth in Lincolnshire is run by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and serves the communities of Louth and the surrounding local areas. It provides a range of services including an outpatient department, diagnostic and surgical procedures, as well as an inpatient surgical ward.
A phased nurse call system upgrade
In June 2016, following a competitive tender, Static Systems Group was appointed to carry out a phased upgrade of the nurse call system in two of the hospital’s wards: Manby and Carlton. Each 20-bed ward comprises four 4-bed bays and four single-bed rooms.
Both wards had been partially refurbished within the past 12 months and as part of the refurb, a wireless system (not manufactured by Static Systems) had been installed to replace the former hardwired nurse call system. However, the Trust subsequently decided to replace the wireless system as they had concerns about its quality, reliability and compliance with HTM requirements.
As the wards had only recently undergone a partial refurbishment, the installation of the new nurse call system from Static Systems had to take place without causing any damage to the newly redecorated bathroom facilities.
Meeting the Trust’s specific requirements
Static Systems supplied, installed and commissioned the nurse call system upgrade on behalf of the Trust’s appointed main contractor, Clugstons, and its M&E consultant, Ingleton Wood.
Static Systems was heavily involved in the early stage design of the solution for this project, providing specialist support to the project team throughout the design, installation and commissioning phases. Static Systems also engaged with clinical staff during the design stage to demonstrate the various solutions available. End users were then supported at handover through demonstrations of the system and its functionality.
Having reviewed the Trust’s requirements and the specific restrictions relating to the installation of a new system, Static Systems recommended its wired Codemlon™ addressable loop-wired nurse call system for both wards, with approximately 40 beds in total across the two wards. Codemlon is a tried and tested solution with an enviable track record in the healthcare sector, serving more acute hospital wards in the UK than any other nurse call system.
Static Systems’ Aspire SmartSync® wireless nurse call solution was chosen for the support areas in both wards. As these areas had only been refurbished less than 12 months ago, the wireless system provided an ideal solution because it is designed for straightforward ‘out of the box’ installation and set-up and would avoid the need to disrupt the new decor. A further benefit is that Aspire SmartSync has a familiar look and feel to Static Systems’ wired solutions which will avoid confusion for patients and staff alike.
Static Systems then networked the Aspire SmartSync wireless and Codemlon wired solutions together to make one complete nurse call system within each ward.
Static Systems’ clinical reporting and analytics software, Fusion Analytics, was also provided as part of the system, giving staff access to quality, real-time data associated with call response times. Fusion Analytics is useful in supporting staff activity reviews and measuring peaks and troughs in demand. The software is capable of supporting additional systems in the future.
Static Systems also helped to address a design challenge relating to the wards’ bedhead services trunking. The trunking was originally meant to be horizontal but due to the layout of the 4-bed bays it wasn’t possible to fit all the equipment within the specified units so Static Systems recommended its vertical Modus Flatwall which is an ideal solution for ‘fast-track’ refurbishment projects.
The installation was undertaken in phases, with each ward being vacated of patients while work was carried out. Testing took place over a two-week period following installation in each ward. The new systems installed by Static Systems are fully HTM 08-03 compliant.
A truly integrated solution
Matt Thompson, Senior Account Manager (Healthcare) at Static Systems, comments: “The Trust went out to the market to identify a nurse call supplier for this project and chose us because of our ability to link wireless and wired systems that look the same, operate in the same way and can be fully integrated. In addition to the functional benefits this has delivered for the Trust, they didn’t incur any expensive redecoration costs in the recently refurbished wards, which was an important factor in their decision to appoint us.”
