Case Study
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Mobile Connectivity Improvement Project
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is one of the largest teaching hospital trusts in England, serving a regional, national and international population.
The Trust provides a full range of services across South Birmingham, East Birmingham, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth and South Staffordshire.
The Trust’s 20,000 members of staff see and treat more than 2.2 million people every year and deliver more babies than anywhere else in Europe.
The Trust’s hospitals include Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Solihull Hospital, Good Hope Hospital, and Birmingham Chest Clinic.
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The Challenge
Boost Pro was approached to design and install two distributed antenna systems in key administrative areas across two hospital buildings within University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust – Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and Regents Court.
Poor mobile coverage is a common problem in hospitals, due to the design and materials used during construction (concrete, steel, and Low-E glass). This can have a detrimental effect on both staff being able to carry out their daily duties, as well as patients not being able to communicate with family, in what is often a highly stressful time.
In line with the “NHS Long Term Plan” in making better use of digital technology, improving connectivity and mobile coverage for staff and patients was a priority.
The Solution
Working in conjunction with the IT and Estates teams, the Boost Pro technical team conducted detailed surveys and testing across both sites. Each building had its own unique challenges and requirements, therefore two different solutions were designed.
For Queen Elizabeth Hospital, our engineers deployed a Hybrid DAS, covering the full executive suite.
For Regents Court, our engineers deployed a passive DAS covering the offices and meeting rooms.
Our solutions benefit from:
✓ Multi Network 3G 4G 5G* Voice and Data
✓ Network Safe and Network operator approved
✓ Indoor / Outdoor NEMA 4 Rated
✓ Scalable, all-digital PoE Solution
✓ Setup, Maintenance, and Remote Management
*Hardware is 5G ready for Voice and Data and service will be activated once Ofcom approves 5G frequencies.
The Results
All targeted areas of the hospital buildings now receive full LTE voice and data coverage on the NHS corporate network
Staff can now seamlessly communicate with each other, patients, and other external stakeholders.
Staff now benefit from improved health, safety, and well-being. reducing stress levels and improving employee satisfaction.
Better business continuity – mobile networks provide resilient backup comms, and pave the way for future IoT use, in line with the NHS digital transformation programme.
Our products are license-exempt and fully comply with Ofcom’s UK Interface requirement 2102 (IR2102) (UK) and ComReg S.I.No.283 of 2018 (Ireland).
