Health and social care workers across Lancashire will be able to collaborate more effectively and work more easily on-the-move by using a new high-speed network from Virgin Media Business. The network, and a bespoke service desk to provide a single point of contact for the county’s healthcare community, will help improve efficiencies, optimise online security and enhance the patient experience.
A collaborative procurement partnership of eight Lancashire healthcare trusts chose Virgin Media Business to deliver the new network. The £9 million project will connect approximately 170 healthcare sites, including those at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Blackburn with Darwen, NHS East Lancashire, East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, NHS Central Lancashire, NHS North Lancashire and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust.
“The partners determined that Virgin Media Business was the best telco for this challenge. It not only offered the most robust and flexible product, but also the most innovative future-proof design,” said Declan Hadley, Associate Director of IM & T, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.
“Our new shared infrastructure service will enable Lancashire’s health services to collaborate in new technology projects to ensure we have information available to the clinician at the point of care, as part of our Care Closer to Home agenda. By working together, Lancashire’s healthcare community has addressed affordability issues to provide the most innovative and agile technology solutions available to significantly improve our patient services,” he said.
The project will include the delivery of wireless, Local Area Network (LAN), voice, Remote Access Service (RAS) and mobile services. It will connect 11 hospital sites, 85 health centres, clinics and surgeries, 33 mental health and social care departments, three of Her Majesty’s Prisons and 37 other NHS sites. Virgin Media Business will work in partnership with infrastructure and security specialist Imerja to install the initial stage of the project, including the development and management of a bespoke service desk.
“Technology is at the heart of delivering next generation healthcare services,” said David Astley, head of health and emergency services at Virgin Media Business. “As more local authorities, health and social care agencies gear up to deliver a personalised service for citizens in line with the Government’s personalisation agenda, organisations are likely to regard Lancashire’s collaborative partnership as an ideal example of how to achieve a total solution to meet current and future needs.”
Future phases of the network project will include videoconferencing, fixed and wireless LAN services, and business continuity initiatives.
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About Imerja
Imerja is a specialist service provider focused on providing ICT security solutions and professional services to protect business critical information and deliver business continuity across all communication infrastructures. It is committed to providing technical excellence and delivering business lead solutions based on appropriate technology.
About Virgin Media Business
Virgin Media Business is the UK’s only telco with a nationwide fibre optic Next Generation Network. Launched in February 2010, the company aims to bring the Virgin philosophy to the business telecoms market. Providing innovative, high quality solutions built on brilliant customer service.
Virgin Media Business is the largest business-to-business brand in the Virgin group. With a strong product portfolio that includes its market leading Ethernet services. It uses its network asset in order to create bespoke tailored telecoms solutions for its customers. Employees are located at 40 offices across the UK, allowing Virgin Media Business to be closer to its customers in every sense.
Previously known as ntl:Telewest Business, organisations working with Virgin Media Business include London City Airport, Arqiva, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership and South West Water.
About Virgin Media
With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile.
The company is one of the largest residential broadband providers in the UK, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next generation ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb to just over half of all homes. Combined with a high speed ADSL service and mobile broadband products, Virgin Media is able to offer broadband internet access to virtually the entire country.
Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.
The company operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.
Virgin Media also owns Virgin Media Television (VMtv) which runs seven entertainment channels, including Virgin1, LIVING, Bravo and Challenge. VMtv is a 50 per cent joint partner with BBC Worldwide in UKTV, which consists of ten channels including Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi.
With operations based entirely in the UK, Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (VMED) and the London Stock Exchange (VMED).
For more information, go to http://www.virginmedia.com/
