NHS Glasgow and Clyde awards critical communications tender to Multitone
UK\'s largest health trust adopts central critical communications system using IP-based i-Message solution
Multitone has been appointed by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide a central critical communications system using its new IP-based i-Message product.
The trust is the largest health board in the UK and commissioned the solution to ensure it can meet the communications demands of in excess of 20,000 users and to help it to continue improving patient pathways. The project is a key part of the trust’s new technology-advanced Southern General Hospital, which is scheduled to open in 2015.
Stephen Connolly, telecommunications service manager at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “In the tender process we were looking for a technology partner that was able to leverage existing systems, as well as providing new tools, to create a single, centrally-based communications centre. As well as amalgamating and centralising all our critical communications, the new system needed to integrate remote alarm systems and door access controls and work with the existing infrastructure, including our Automatic Guide Vehicles, robots that deliver pharmaceutical drugs using a location mapping facility.”
John Melville, account manager at Multitone, added: “As a supplier of communications technology, we have actually been working with many of the hospitals now in the trust for nearly 50 years with regards to paging systems. Now we are installing our latest i-Message IP-based communications system which offers greater control over the methods of communication, be it mobile or landline based, to route messages to the right person straight away.”
As well as installing the new system, Multitone is overseeing the project to ensure existing infrastructure is fully utilised. Connolly said: “We are also using existing pagers from one communication centre across the 18 sites. We will be upgrading the communication system to i-Message server, which will give us more capability with the aim of integrating the latest smart devices to the system. We currently have the biggest hospital development in Britain with the new Southern General site. With users in excess of 20,000, it is essential we have this flexibility in place to achieve this.”
