Media centre

8 November 2007

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Delivers Better Bedside Care

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed Affiniti to provide and manage its IP infrastructure, upgrading existing networks and implementing high performance wireless networks.

The 10 year contract will see Affiniti initially provide a comprehensive managed data network at the Trust’s Dewsbury hospital as well as to the two new hospitals currently being built at Pinderfields and Pontefract to provide improved technological services for patients.

The new wireless network will offer the potential for medical staff to access test results at patients’ bedsides – bringing up results, X-rays and medical records in real-time, so doctors and patients can look at them together quickly and easily. With information at their fingertips, medical staff will save time tracking down charts and details, enabling them to focus more on caring for their patients. The additional capacity provided by the network will help the Trust ensure seamless use of large sensitive files, such as X-rays and picture archives. 

The advanced wireless network will also enable the Trust’s hospitals to use RFID technology to track the location of critical and expensive medical equipment across all its buildings.  The new network will benefit the new hospitals when they open in 2010 but it is expected that the Dewsbury hospital will profit from the technology as early as next year.

Simon Nahk, Director of Information Management and Technology and Performance at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “With the confidence of a highly flexible, robust and shared data network, the Trust can plan for a paper-free future.  This will result in the need for much less storage space which costs money, staff time will be saved not having to chase information or queue for PCs and we will have increased security for medical equipment because we can electronically tag and track it.  The potential for integrating the telephone system with sophisticated IT systems to plan and schedule staff is another possibility the new network will open up.”

Paul Renucci, Managing Director of Affiniti said: “The new network infrastructure provides the Trust with a fast interactive network, enabling staff to be more flexible and real-time in their approach to patient care.  The end-to-end environment will further support the roll out of NHS IT systems such as Patient Care Records and Picture Archiving and Communication, whilst also laying the foundations for the future deployment of converged voice and video applications.”

Affiniti’s network solution provides both the fibre backbone and wireless network. It is a fully managed service covering all technology and operational risk to ensure the hospital has 24/7 monitoring of the network.

Affiniti has worked with the Trust for the past two years in developing and managing the wired networks to support the roll out of PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) and other key applications. The service Affiniti will deliver expands on the existing Managed Service to provide an availability based service on a no service no fee basis.

Other recent PFI wins for Affiniti include University Hospital Birmingham in 2006 which was worth £20m over 12.5 years and North Staffordshire NHS Hospitals Trust worth £67m over 37 years in 2007.

About Kingston Communications

Kingston Communications (HULL) PLC provides a range of Information and Communications technology (ICT) and telecommunication services to businesses, and internet and telecommunications services to selected consumer markets, within the UK.

The Group’s portfolio of ICT businesses works with both leading private enterprise customers and public sector organisations. Through its Affiniti, Smart421 and JAM IP brands, the Group delivers solutions covering unified communications, contact centre solutions, data management, applications integration and managed services.

The Kingston Group also includes a regionally-focused business, Kingston Communications, which supports small to medium-sized businesses. Through its KC, Eclipse and Mistral brands, the business offers a wide range of internet-based and telecommunications services.  The regional business also provides telephony and internet services to targeted consumers through its KC, Eclipse and Karoo brands.

The Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and employs over 2,700 people across the UK.

For further information please contact:

Emma Turner
Nelson Bostock Communications
020 7792 7475
E: emma.turner@nelsonbostock.com

Dianne White
Affiniti
01442 883370
E: dianne.white@affiniti.com