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In partnership with electrical contractor W Portsmouth & Co, Ascom has been awarded the contract to supply and install healthcare communication technology to the BEACH (Births, Emergency Care and Critical Care, and Child Health) Building at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
The 23,000m2, six-storey BEACH Building will provide a new maternity unit, children’s unit, enhanced emergency department, a 30-bed capacity critical care unit and a purpose-designed pathology hub. Its creation will make the Royal Bournemouth Hospital the major emergency hospital for Dorset.
Planned to open in Autumn 2024, the BEACH Building forms part of a £250m transformation by the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.
Ascom will provide its innovative end-to-end digital smart nurse call solution to the project, including Myco 3 smartphones with mobile attack alarm software and near-real-time location tracking, in addition to fixed panic attack alarm technology.
An infant tracking system will also be installed by Ascom. Working via an infant safe tag, which has anti-tamper technology, staff at the BEACH Building will be able to monitor the movements of all babies under its care. The tracking system, which is RF and Wi-Fi enabled, will be integrated within the CCTV and security doors of the hospital.
David Walters, senior account manager for Ascom, said: “When it’s completed the emergency department alone at the BEACH Building will be larger than the current facilities in Poole and at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital combined. It’s a huge project in scale and ambition – its footprint will be the equivalent of 115 tennis courts.
“The technology that will be used at BEACH is state of the art, it will help with clinical decision making, workflow and the security of both staff and patients.”
Ascom and W. Portsmouth & Co. previously worked together on another flagship NHS project at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
John Harper, director of W.Portsmouth & Co said: “We look forward to delivering another innovative project with Ascom for the NHS - a partnership which keeps going from strength to strength.”
The main contractor for the BEACH Building at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital is Integrated Health Projects (IHP), which is a joint venture between VINCI Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine.
This article has been published on the HEJ website, Healthcare Design & Management website and DigitalHealth website.