On behalf of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust, Static Systems Group has successfully completed a ‘live’ site-wide upgrade to the nurse call system at Queen’s Hospital in Burton ahead of schedule. The anticipated delivery period for the project was four to five years, however the work was completed in just over three.
Queen’s Hospital is an acute 450-bed hospital serving around 360,000 residents of Burton upon Trent and the surrounding areas. The hospital had over 40 existing nurse call systems, including conventionally wired Static Systems’ equipment which had been in place for some 25 years. With much of the equipment becoming obsolete, maintenance costs rising and the risk of equipment failure increasing, the Trust recognised that a complete system upgrade was required.
Static Systems was appointed to replace every nurse call system throughout the hospital. All upgrade work had to be undertaken in a live, fully occupied hospital environment, which is Static Systems’ area of expertise.
Static Systems’ Codemlon™ loop wired addressable nurse call system was identified as the best solution for the upgrade. Using Codemlon meant that the containment and back boxes in most of the hospital’s existing nurse call systems could be re-used, reducing replacement costs and minimising disruption during installation. Additionally, as Codemlon offers radio sound entertainment, the Trust could continue to provide patients with free-to-access radio, controlled through the nurse call patient hand units – one of the Trust’s requirements of the new system.
A wireless nurse call system was deployed during the upgrade of the wired system to provide the staff and patients with continuity and enable Static Systems’ engineers to work in a live ward, a bay at a time. In each ward, Static Systems’ engineers undertook the upgrade, swapped over from the existing to the new equipment and provided demonstrations to the ward staff on how to use the new system. The temporary wireless system was then removed by the hospital’s estates staff ready for use in the next area.
Static Systems connected the hospital’s various ward-based systems together using the Trust’s own LAN, enabling the Trust to transfer calls between adjacent wards/departments as and when required.
In order to futureproof the system, the Trust requested that provision be made for ‘Fusion Analytics’ to be incorporated at a later date. The Trust will be able to use the Fusion Analytics software to collate and analyse data to demonstrate efficiency and levels of patient care. Two satellite community hospitals will also be connected to the event logging server. The technology will enable Static Systems to gain remote access to undertake technical support and provide advice to the hospital.
Steve Clark, Project Manager at Static Systems, comments: “A significant number of Static Systems’ contracts are repeat business with long-standing customers, and the Queen’s Hospital upgrade is a good example of this. We’ve looked after the Burton Campus for the past 25 years and as a result of the high level of service we’ve provided over this time and the proven track record of our Codemlon nurse call solution, the Trust appointed us for this project.”
James Chadwick, Head of Facilities & Capital Developments, Burton Campuses, at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, adds: “Having worked with Static Systems for many years, we were confident that they would deliver a reliable and effective solution for this large-scale upgrade. The installation of the new system was seamless, with only very minimal disruption to ward operations. Feedback from the ward staff on the new systems has been very good, with staff finding them to be easy to operate and keep clean. The solution that Static Systems has put in place allows for future expansion of the building and plans are already in place to integrate further ‘modular’ buildings to the nurse call system over the coming months. This migration has saved the Trust around £24k per annum on call outs and repairs.”
The new system is fully compliant with HTM 08-03.
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