Press release
St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust delivers
faster patient care with ntl:Telewest Business
- First in the UK to provide unique new community network
linking 170 sites including hospitals and
GPs
- Enables savings of £1 million per year and better
patient care
25 July, 2007. Patients and staff in the St
Helens and Knowsley area are set to benefit from a truly
21st century communications network, robust and flexible
enough to serve their needs for years to come. ntl:Telewest
Business, the supplier of communications services to the public and
private sectors, has announced today that it is working with St
Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust to build a community
network linking all healthcare providers in its area. The five year
contract is worth £4.2 million and the ntl:Telewest Business
solution was selected due to the local management and control it
allows.
The network, the first of its kind in the
country, enables healthcare professionals such as GPs to
electronically access patient records and results securely,
speeding up treatment and supporting the integration of services
for the area’s approximately 350,000 residents, extending into
Halton in 2007. By building a connected health community, linking
170 sites and spanning all major NHS IT applications, the Trust
will save £1 million per year in improved productivity and lower
telephone costs.
Ann Marr, Chief Executive of St Helens and
Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust said,
“We have a clear vision - to deliver the best
possible service to our patients on a local level. To be the first
in the UK to offer this unique system is tremendous and shows our
commitment to a community-based network using advanced technology
to bring 7,500 local staff together to give better, faster patient
care. By working with ntl:Telewest Business we are able to deliver
on our vision while generating £1 million of efficiency savings
that can be ploughed back into patient care.”
Part funded by the Connecting for Health
programme along with the Trust, the robust direct fibre network
deployed by ntl:Telewest Business features high levels of security
and resilience to ensure uninterrupted service to the community.
The Trust is running all local and national healthcare applications
on the network, including email, patient records, test results,
internet and intranet access as well as benefiting from cheaper
voice calls through Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.
“Providing connected healthcare at a local,
community level is central to delivering the highest possible
standards of patient care and ensuring that the current major
investment in NHS IT provides real benefits,” said David Astley,
head of health and emergency services, ntl:Telewest Business.
“Working with St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust on this
ground-breaking project has demonstrated the advantages a local
health service brings to patients and the healthcare professionals
that serve them.”
ntl:Telewest Business was selected to
implement the network due to its combination of strong product,
price and high levels of support. The project is due for completion
in December 2007 and currently has been rolled out to main core
hospitals, 20 GP practices and 3 Local Improvement Finance Trust
(LIFT) schemes.
The new Trust network is part of a drive to
implement Community of Interest Networks (COINs) that link local
healthcare resources to provide faster and more efficient patient
care. ntl:Telewest Business is leading this change and is working
with healthcare organisations across the country to implement
COINs.
About ntl:Telewest Business
ntl:Telewest Business, part of the UK’s second
largest fixed-line telecommunications company, is a leading
communications provider to businesses, public sector organisations
and service providers in the UK. It delivers a complete portfolio
of voice, data and internet solutions nation-wide.
ntl:Telewest Business sales and support
teams are located across the UK, in close proximity to our
customers, as part of a commitment to deliver superior customer
service.
ntl:Telewest Business delivers services over
the Group’s £13bn investment in its state-of-the-art
infrastructure giving business customers access to the largest
alternative network in the UK.
ntl:Telewest Business is trusted to provide
critical communications to high profile customers
including: Heathrow's Terminal 5, Birmingham City Council and
Cambridgeshire County Council.
Rebecca
Tyrer
ntl:Telewest
Business
T: 01256
754715
E: rebecca.tyrer@virginmedia.co.uk
Chris Measures/Rupert Walker
Rainier PR
T: 020 7494 6570
E: cmeasures@rainierpr.co.uk