Bedside and waiting room TV keeps patients and visitors informed and makes hospital visits more pleasant; staff and patients give enthusiastic approval.
By supplying high-quality TV, video and radio channels for patient bedsides and entertainment plus information for waiting room large screens, these solutions help alleviate some of the stress and boredom associated with hospital visits. They also assist the Trust’s efforts to comply fully with the Government’s patient experience mandate, which requires improvements in hospital environments by providing information and entertainment.
Exterity’s building IPTV solution harnesses the hospital’s existing IP network to supply TV and radio channels to a Philips CareServant patient information system, which provides patients with a wide-screen bed-mounted touch screen where they can select and view TV, watch on-demand titles and listen to the radio. A mini-keyboard gives access to the internet, computer use (e.g., electronic surveys) and a phone service so patients can keep in touch with friends and family without getting out of bed. For those in the day case unit, the Exterity solution is helping to keep out-patients entertained with live TV in waiting rooms, including digital signage to supply hospital-related announcements.
The system was initially piloted with 17 beds and 14 waiting rooms and will be expanded to cover the entire hospital over the next 18 months. “The picture quality is excellent,” says Dr Zafar Chaudry, Chief Information Officer for Liverpool Women's and Alder Hey Children's Trusts. “It is making a big difference in the patient experience. In fact, the medical director commented that he couldn’t get patients off the TV to have a conversation.” Nurses are equally enthusiastic. “Patients who are less stressed are less grumpy,” explains Dr. Zafar, “so the nurses have an easier time caring for them.”
The Exterity building IPTV solutions have enabled the Trust to increase its return on its network infrastructure investments by using the hospital’s existing IP network to transmit TV channels. This also eliminates the need for a separate analogue TV cabling system, which reduces cost and minimizes the impact of deployment on patients by simplifying installation. In addition, the system will easily scale to support expansion.
“The experience of the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust underscores the power of Building IPTV in healthcare,” says Colin Farquhar, CEO of Exterity. “Exterity Building IPTV integrates with a wide range of healthcare information solutions to give medical organisations a future-proof way to deliver an improved patient experience, and optimises the return on their network investment.”