The relationship was formed

when an asset tracking and Real

Time Location System (RTLS)

was supplied and installed by

ANT Telecom. This enabled better

management of vulnerable patients,

improved patient flow, as well as

allowing greater transparency of the

location of specialist medical

equipment and to help meet asset

audit requirements.

Background

Following the implementation of

campus wide Wi-Fi at Newcastle

upon Tyne Hospitals NHS

Foundation Trust (NUTH) for

accessing patient data, the Trust

decided to explore further uses for

the network. NUTH decided to

implement a Real Time Location

System (RTLS) to aid the locating of

specialist medical equipment and

required a solution that could

operate via the exiting Wi-Fi network,

without installing any additional

equipment. The ANT Telecom RTLS

solution appealed to NUTH due to

the ease of implementation and

potential time savings.

Bob Beckwith, Data and

Telecoms Manager, Newcastle upon

Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation

Trust comments, “The ease with

which the ANT Telecom RTLS

solution integrated with our current

network meant there was very little

work to do. We could simply attach

the tags to the medical devices and

get started with minimal disruption.”

He adds, “Getting the solution

ready for use was relatively straight

forward, the challenge was

introducing it to staff for use in

clinical environments. That is where

the support of ANT Telecom was

used; they talked to staff within

multiple directorates to establish what

their requirements were. This End

User focused approach ensured that

the needs of the business were met.”

Asset management

NUTH initially implemented RTLS

within the EME Services Department

on pieces of specialist mobile

equipment that are used throughout

the hospital sites, to allow better

management of the assets by aiding

the location of the equipment for

both use, maintenance and for

auditing purposes.

Jeff Stephenson, EME Services

Officer, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

comments, “By combining the RFID

tagging solution with the 100%

wireless network coverage over our

two main sites, we can now identify

where equipment, assets or patients

are throughout the hospital within a

two to three metre accuracy.”

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHSFoundation Trust sees multiple benefits fromimplementing a real time location system

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals (NUTH) NHS Foundation Trusthas been a customer of ANT Telecom for over six years

Call 01494 833100. Visit www.anttele.com

Avaya Partner in Customer Excellence

ANT Telecommunications Limited, Swift House, Peregrine Business ParkGomm Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP13 7DL

Case study

Jeff Stephenson adds, “The basic

principle of the asset tracking

solution or RTLS solution is

delivering a number of benefits; one

is resource efficiency from a

maintenance perspective, in terms of

locating an item when maintenance

is due. Previously, medical devices

could be anywhere within 80 wards

or 50 operating theatres; they can

now be accurately tracked on the

computer before we leave the

department to collect them, saving

technicians valuable time.”

“We have also created a virtual

equipment library that allows staff to

locate specialist equipment 24/7.

Previously, staff would have had to

contact each ward to see if the

equipment was there and if it was in

use, which was neither an effective,

nor reliable method of tracking the

many medical devices we have. Now

we can pinpoint the equipment

within the hospital and can then

contact the particular ward to check

its availability.”

Patient benefits

Following the success of the asset

tracking solution, NUTH decided to

invest further and work with ANT

Telecom to provide tags to both the

Neurology Departments for

vulnerable patients and also for the

patients waiting for appointments

within the Oncology Department.

Within the Neurology Department

vulnerable patients are given tags

that support the physical security

measures already in place at the

Trust, by allowing hospital staff to

monitor the patient’s location if they

leave the ward, increasing patient

safety. Bob Beckwith comments,

“Previously we had concentrated on

the more physical safeguards such

as locking door systems and access

control into the wards. The tags

enhance this to provide site wide

visibility.”

The Oncology Department

implemented the tags as a means of

improving the patient experience by

notifying patients when their

appointment is, allowing them to

move freely around the hospital as

opposed to being restricted to the

waiting room. Beckwith comments,

“Patients in other departments have

been given tags that vibrated at their

appointment time but the solution

was limited as it was restricted to a

limited physical area. If patients had

left the waiting room we could not

locate them. However, now as the

Wi-Fi network is hospital wide, they

can move freely and we can locate

them to notify them of their

appointment as required.”

Future efficiencies

The Trust has, to date, deployed 500

tags on specific pieces of equipment

where there is a need to share or

monitor the equipment’s location.

The Trust aims to invest in more tags

to enable them to track a greater

number of medical devices. NUTH is

also planning to look into the

additional capabilities that the

solution has to provide further

efficiencies and time savings.

Jeff Stephenson comments

“Overall ANT Telecom has been

excellent in supporting us. We have

great communication with the team

and they worked with us to

customise the system to our very

specific needs.”

Jeff Stephenson adds, “One of the

functions of the asset tracking

solution that we are currently

examining is identifying the frequency

of asset use. Therefore, when

requests are made for additional

equipment we can assess how

urgent or important the request is.

We will be able to make informed

decisions that will prevent us

purchasing unnecessary equipment.”

Jeff Stephenson concludes,

“Moving forward, there are other

benefits that the RTLS tags can be

used for in terms of the management

of assets - rather than just locating

the physical equipment, it could be

used as a status update as to

whether equipment is cleaned,

providing an audit trial of hospital

cleaning procedures and also giving

staff real time visibility of when

equipment is clean and ready for

use. These are hugely exciting areas

that we are looking forward to

exploring with ANT Telecom.”

Call 01494 833100. Visit www.anttele.com

Avaya Partner in Customer Excellence

ANT Telecommunications Limited, Swift House, Peregrine Business ParkGomm Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP13 7DL

Case study