Gloucestershire Hospitals Deploys Wi-Fi To Support Digital Projects

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has selected a wi-fi provider to support its new clinical SmartCare project and patient services.

SmartCare aims to move the Trust away from paper notes towards a fully digital patient information system in order to provide safer, more efficient and more effective care for patients.

The new 802.11ac wireless network, supplied by Meru Networks, will cover three primary areas of the Trust, including the Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospitals, with future to plans to roll the wi-fi out across all sites.

Meru claims it can provide the Trust with fast, seamless, robust wireless access for staff when the Trust goes live with its new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system later this year.

The firm is brining unique channel layering technology to Gloucestershire which is designed to enable the healthcare organisation to run different services on different wireless channels.

This will allow clinical services to be run separately from other highly used patient services and ensures the security and integrity of confidential patient data in maintained.

Meru is working with partner European Electronique (EE) to replace the existing Aruba system and rollout the new network, which includes 16000 AP832 access points, an MC42000 controller, Meru Connect for secure on-boarding of guests and visitors and Meru Network Manager to provide centralised monitoring, visibility and control of the WLAN.

“Clear Vision For IT”

“The Trust has a very clear vision for its IT and this revolves around its new mission-critical service, SmartCare, as well as the provision of patient services in wards and open areas,” claimed Henry Batten at Meru Networks.

“From the outset we highlighted Meru’s unique technological advantages and why a single channel approach would work for them.

“Channel layering was a key advantage, as we’re able to offer differentiated services on different wireless channels, which is absolutely critical within a healthcare environment like this,” Batten added.

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