Patients and healthcare staff in Suffolk will be able to
communicate more easily and more cheaply with a Cisco Unified
Communications system being implemented across 200 healthcare
locations in the county.
Implemented by Cisilion, a Cisco partner,
the system will be one of the first voice over IP (VoIP)
systems to be deployed over the NHS N3 network.
Part of the
National Programme for IT, this network provides the NHS with
fast broadband communications services.
The Cisco Unified Communications system is expected to help
Suffolk NHS organisations improve healthcare provision by allowing
health workers to be more mobile and by bringing services closer to
patients.
Doctors, community nurses and child health visitors will be
accessible via their own direct dial numbers, making it simpler and
easier for them to work from any location.
Significant cost savings are expected because the Cisco Unified
Communications system makes centralised management much easier and
will reduce the need for on-site engineer visits.
Further cost savings will be gained by reducing the cost of
internal calls in Suffolk and with other NHS organisations outside
the region via N3, and by replacing the number and types of
telephone systems scattered around the region with a single system
integrated with the existing data network.
The Cisco Unified Communications system is also being used to
manage two virtual call centre services, one for general patient
enquiries and the second for Suffolk Support Services' internal
IM&T Service Desk.
The system is being managed by Suffolk Support Services, which
provides ICT to the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
and
the Suffolk Primary Care Trust.
Nick Rackham, technical programme manager at Suffolk Support
Services, said, "The Cisco Unified Communications system is crucial
to providing an effective healthcare service, especially as Suffolk
is making health services more mobile and much more accessible to
the community.”
The Cisco Unified Communications system is being deployed to
about 4,000 NHS healthcare and administration staff at locations
such as health clinics, care homes and NHS management headquarters
in the region.
Some of Suffolk's 103 newer GP surgeries are also being
connected to the system, with the other GPs expected to be
connected over the next few years.
The Cisco Unified Communications system will also be used to
manage communications in the Suffolk PCT Silver Command Centre, a
command-and-control facility to coordinate emergency services in
the event of a major incident.
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Tony Collins'
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