Health officials work together to improve Wi-Fi access for patients and staff

News from our partners Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Health officials are working together to improve access to Wi-Fi for patients and staff at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals.

Officials from Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) offered to provide £200,000 match funding to support the project, which is being led by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It means that SaTH can move forward with plans to have free Wi-Fi across both hospital sites.

Simon Wright, Chief Executive of SaTH, said:

“We are constantly looking at ways to improve the experience of our patients, visitors and staff.

“Any length of stay in hospital, whether you are the one receiving treatment or supporting a loved one, can be, at times, frustrating or boring. Whilst we already provide free patient Wi-Fi in a number of areas where we know patients are likely to have a lengthy stay – such as our Chemotherapy Day Centre and the Women and Children’s Centre – we have been keen for some time to expand this to cover all of our hospital sites.

“We are delighted our CCG partners have offered to match our funding for this important scheme.

“But this will not just benefit our patients and visitors. Technology is playing an increasing role in almost everything we do, and being able to access Wi-Fi across our sites will help all of our staff manage the increasing demand on their time as well as improving the accuracy of record keeping and improving patient safety.”

David Evans, Chief Officer for Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, said:

“NHS commissioners are delighted to be able to fund this initiative.

“Free Wi-Fi throughout the Trust’s facilities has obvious benefits for patients that can help improve their experience in hospital.

“However there are also very clear benefits for clinicians too. It will allow access to a range of apps which put huge amounts of information at their fingertips and will also make it easier to be in contact with colleagues, wherever they happen to be.”