The Wandsworth Group is to provide all patient entertainment and bedside computing facilities for the South Australian Health Department, in a £6.5 million deal. One of Australia’s leading telecommunications providers, Telstra, won the tender from the Department for an integrated bedside solution that could provide secure clinical access and modern patient entertainment for over 3,700 beds across 14 hospitals.
This followed a successful pilot at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide, where 100 touchscreens installed for clinician and patient use drew ‘extremely positive feedback’. The systems integration element has been subcontracted to IBM, which selected the Wandsworth Tele-Call system. Wandsworth is supplying all 3,700 units, and has also developed bespoke software to make the entertainment systems simpleto- use for patients, and provide ‘secure additional functionality’ for medics. Technical director, Colin Plimmer, said: “This deal follows a full trial in South Australia, which saw our Tele-Call system compare favourably with others to win the contract. Tele-Call has been available internationally for some time, but this is the first Australian state to specify the system across all its hospitals, and the fact that a UK-developed system, manufactured by a British company, has won such a major deal against global competition, indicates just how cutting edge our technology is.” The Tele-Call bedside touchscreen units will provide free-to-air and premium television, radio, internet access, video-ondemand, and telephone facilities. Medical staff will be able to ‘convert’ the unit to a secure bedside computing device via ‘smart card’, allowing them to access patient records, X-rays, and other applications.
