Caterham Dene goes wireless with new nursecall system

Published: 15-Aug-2014

Hospital installs Courtney-Thorne wireless nursecall system following PLACE inspection

Courtney-Thorne has supplied and installed its 08 wireless nurse all system at Caterham Dene Hospital in Surrey, improving current systems and duty of care procedures on a 28-bed ward.

The ward treats a wide demographic of patients requiring a period of rehabilitation after illness or for certain conditions to prevent them from needing transfer to more acute facilities. It has a single 28-bed ward alongside various treatment departments including minor injuries, and a rapid assessment clinic.

The decision to replace the hospital’s existing hard-wired nursecall system followed a Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) Audit which found that response times were delayed because it was difficult for nursing staff to identify which patient had pressed the call button.

After inviting three providers to submit proposals, Caterham Dene Hospital selected the Courtney-Thorne wireless system as it could provide excellent functionality, futureproofing and value for money, along with instant identification of patient calls to speed up response times.

Courtney-Thorne installed the system for all 28 beds over a two-day period, working around the hospital’s schedule to avoid any need to decant or disturb patients. Each bed has a pear push lead call button and the call appears as a numbered alert on the Courtney-Thorne CT-TOUCH display screens, which are located in the nurses’ office, with a further three display panels located at intervals in the corridor. The nursecall has also been integrated with the pager system to ensure members of staff are alerted to a call and can identify it quickly from anywhere in the building.

To enhance standards of patient care still further, the call points with pear push leads at the bedhead have been supplemented by Courtney-Thorne’s own wrist-worn patient pendants, which enable patients to take call button functionality with them if they visit the day room or the gym. Some of the beds have also been fitted with Courtney-Thorne’s pressure mats which integrate with the nursecall system to alert staff if a patient has left their bed during the night and not returned, helping to safeguard against wandering and alert staff to slips and trips.

Laura Garnham from First Community and Health & Care, which runs the hospital, said: “We aim to offer all our patients the highest quality of care, so it’s important that we help them feel safe and well looked after.

“The Courtney-Thorne system has already proved effective in delivering those goals and has also provided us with a practical and cost effective solution that has futureproofed our nursecall requirements by being easy to reconfigure should our needs change.”

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