Free bedside telephony at Sheffield hospital

Specifically designed for the clean, noise-sensitive ward environment, the UL6060-compliant terminals are also being used to give hospital staff bedside access to patient records and diagnostic images, a benefit which has helped the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust arrive at a solution whereby, unusually, neither incoming nor outgoing calls to and from patients are charged for.  The Trust says it is “committed to developing services that improve the lives of patients, and especially those who are most vulnerable”; hence its decision not to charge for any of the services provided. The bedside telephony service is provided by a Cisco router incorporating a billing system that charges the Trust. Running costs are also offset by efficiency savings resulting from support from the hospital’s Charitable Trust.
Alongside telephony, the terminals offer all patients the more “standard” radio, TV and internet access facilities, while longer-term patients can access the hospital’s education service, ensuring their schooling does not suffer. Computing facilities, meanwhile, enable youngsters to maintain and develop their ICT skills.
JAOtech says the slim Obie terminals can be easily cleaned using conventional hospital cleaning and sterilisation agents, their sealed front and rear faces are IP65 and IP64 compliant respectively, and all plastics are anti-bacterial. With state-of-the-art processors and “creative heat dissipation”, the terminals do not require a cooling fan. Meanwhile features such as call alerts are implemented using LEDs; the only sound output is via attached headphones, an optional telephone or mini loudspeakers.
Sheffield Children’s Hospital is currently rolling out the terminals to all its “hundred-plus” beds and plans to provide “innovative new services” in future.