NURSE CALL SYSTEMS
Wireless technology enables undisturbed service and brings cost savings, says Courtney Thorne.
managers are thus increasingly opting for simpler, quicker solutions that minimise disturbance to staff, residents, and overall service. Installing a Courtney Thorne wireless nurse call system, for instance, only takes a few minutes per room, and residents can remain in their rooms during the installation.
Sue Burton, Governance manager at Montreux Living – which has a portfolio of six boutique UK care homes – shares her experience: “The installation process ran extremely smoothly, with very little upheaval. The engineers completed the work quickly and effectively, and then showed us the system, trained our staff, and made sure that we knew how to get the most out of the touchscreen’s capabilities.”
Risk of system failure
The benefits of minimal disturbance to hospital operations are even greater when a hospital has to go through the complicated and expensive process of closing a ward, while another area where hard-wired solutions cannot compete with wireless alternatives is when wires get damaged and fail. This can lead to an overall system failure, which not only affects patient safety, but also adds extra costs and the potential for major disruption to operations.
Some hospitals that still rely on wired systems choose Courtney Thorne’s wireless solutions as a back-up or ‘breakout’ system, ensuring continuity for safety-critical operation. When legacy hard-wired systems suddenly fail, pre-configured ‘smart’ HTM 08-03- compliant Altra Health systems can be installed immediately and used within a matter of hours as a failsafe –without the need to close off wards or relocate patients.
Adaptability and flexibility Darwin once said: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, but the most adaptable.” The same principle applies to organisations. The speed of change is enormous, and it can be challenging for a large organisation to quickly react and
74 Health Estate Journal October 2018 ‘‘
The Altra Link wireless accessories connector ‘eliminates the need for unsafe trailing cables and wires’.
The latest Courtney Thorne Altra nurse call system incorporates future-proof technologies, such as a variety of sensors and multiple connection options built in, to offer customers future functionality that should enable staff to take care to new levels
adapt, but that is a crucial element for success. Room layouts, and even the purpose of them, often change, buildings expand, and new extensions are built to meet increasing demand or facilitate a new function – very similar situations apply in hospitals. Organisations need to be very flexible to adapt to changes, and this should be reflected in their choices of technology.
Once popular, wired systems are now – in our view at Courtney Thorne – incapable of adapting to changes. Hence the majority of care home managers have little doubt about making the choice to switch to a wireless system. The case is strengthened when you consider that nurse call systems can now integrate with other software and hardware services deployed within a building, added to the low cost of maintenance. In addition, the initial outlay is proven to be up to 40% cheaper than when installing a wired system.
More versatile and flexible Mark Edwards, the owner of the Harbour Rise Care Home in Paignton in Devon, said: “The wireless solution was needed as our wired system was failing, and was not sufficiently flexible when we wanted to extend the building. The new system is more versatile and flexible than my previous one, and has more advanced, future-proofed services as standard compared with other systems I have seen before.”
While the care industry enjoys the benefits of new technologies, there are still many hospitals in the UK that appear to be over-reliant on ‘legacy’ hard-wired technology. As a result, when it comes to re-designing hospital wards, adding more beds, or building extensions, this means more problems for not only Estates Departments, but indeed for the whole hospital and its patients. Warrington Hospital, part of Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is one of the hospitals that left wired technology behind and chose Courtney Thorne technology for its Forget-Me-Not dementia unit. Lee Bushell, from the hospital’s Estates Capital Projects team, explained: “We needed a system that was both flexible and scalable should we need to reconfigure or extend the unit in the future. The wireless system means we can make changes without any rewiring.”
Montreux Living – which has six ‘boutique’ UK care homes, praised the smooth installation process offered by the Courtney Thorne team, and the training given to its staff to get the most out of the technology.
Patient-centred device integration Some hospital Trusts do encourage new technology advancements; however, many feel comfortable with older systems and technologies that they are familiar with. For the reasons discussed earlier, it is important to choose solutions that
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