Health Tech Solution of the Year
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Solution Provider
Health Tech
PLATINUM
PARTNER
Solution
of the Year
Creating a simpler user experience for
staff, patients, and visitors.
Category: Health Tech Solution of the Year
Programme/initiative name: Creating a simpler user experience for staff, patients, and visitors
Agency: Energy Group
Brand or client: Qolcom and HPE Aruba
Summary As part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter was opened to provide additional capacity to care for those with COVID-19. The 116 bed NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter was purpose built at speed in just 8 weeks. A crucial part of the build was the requirement for a robust, scalable and reliable network to support IT teams and healthcare staff to deliver better patient outcomes. Secure Wi-Fi network was a top priority to ensure operational efficiency to provide critical equipment and responsive care. Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 2
About
Qolcom
Qolcom is the EMEA and UKI Partner of public sector for more than a decade.
the year for HPE Aruba. An Dedicated to supporting the NHS,
award-winning global integrator of Qolcom have also pledged two annual
market leading digital workplace, nursing scholarships for the next three
intelligent networking and security years with their partnership with
solutions. Dedicated to delivering Northumbria University.
business transformation through digital
innovation, improving the user Nightingale Hospitals were a key part of
experience, increasing productivity, and the NHS’ national response to the
addressing any client concerns around coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
compliance, governance, and risk. Purpose-built at speed in summer 2020,
the 116-bed NHS Nightingale Hospital
Qolcom has an outstanding track record Exeter was designed to provide
of designing, deploying, and supporting dedicated care for patients with
digital transformational technology coronavirus.
solutions for both the enterprise and
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 3
Strategy
The need for speed The challenge of wi-fi The need for a Security an absolute
connectivity in a medical user-centred experience priority
environment
Nightingale Hospitals were There was a clear need for fast, The solution had to meet the With so many different users in
conceived in a crisis. They had reliable wi-fi throughout the new diverse needs of many different such a data sensitive medical
to be built in a matter of hospital as well as outside in the users, accessing both their own setting, robust network security
weeks ready to deal with an area where ambulances arrive. and NHS-owned devices. This was a must. A solution was
unpredictable and dangerous The presence of state-of-the-art could range from medical staff required that would allow both
pandemic. The Hospital wireless and wired medical using wi-fi enabled medical registered and guest users fast,
required a comprehensive, equipment throughout the site equipment to families talking easy access on any device while
reliable wired and wireless also posed a challenge to the to their loved ones by video (to offering a high level of cyber
network across the site within network designers. A high level avoid close contact). Simple, security across the network.
weeks. The ability to deploy a of tailoring and flexibility was empathetic experience design
major IT solution so quickly essential. tailored to the individual user’s
could be genuinely lifesaving. needs was, therefore, key to
this project’s success.
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 4
Objectives of the Project
Develop a simple but secure network to provide a seamless user
experience to healthcare professionals, patients and their visitors.
Create a fast, reliable and robust solution that could be rapidly deployed
during the height of the pandemic in summer 2020.
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 5
Solution Deploying a major IT solution quickly and effectively could potentially save lives during the global pandemic and a number of solutions were put in place to make this a reality. Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba Campaign 6
Choosing the right vendor The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust selected Qolcom and HPE Aruba, both well-known and trusted IT partners to the NHS. Many surrounding hospitals already depend on Qolcom’s service and support expertise, alongside HPE Aruba’s network technology. This on-the-ground presence meant that the time to deploy was significantly reduced. Central services could be rapidly extended to the Nightingale Exeter for authentication–via Aruba ClearPass and for management, via Aruba Airwave. Qolcom’s experience in the healthcare sector counted for a lot. In particular, their ability to devise a network strategy quickly to meet diverse user needs proved decisive. Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 7
Creating a reliable user-centred experience Qolcom, together with HPE Aruba, worked in collaboration with the RD&E to deliver a robust, user centred network solution in a very short timescale. The solution was a tailored design based on a physical and logical extension of the RD&E LAN and WLAN to the NHE. Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 8
The network solution had four defining features,
each contributing to meeting the Nightingale
Hospital’s precise requirements
1 Granular security
(for wi-fi and wired network) 2 Dependable hardware,
intelligent design
With Aruba ClearPass, the Trust gains the robust Every aspect of the solution was designed to ensure
cyber security features of a wired network in a a secure, reliable network. For example, the Aruba
wireless environment. ClearPass combines hardware components selected by Qolcom for the
context-based policy management with LAN and WLAN solution included Aruba 8325 and
next-generation AAA (Authentication, Authorization, 6300M switches, 515 and 365 access points and UXI
and Accounting) services for highly secure mobile Sensors. Qolcom designed a simple, resilient two
connectivity. This simplifies the management of -tier topology based on a dependable collapsed
network access policies, onboarding, guest user backbone architecture. At the core/aggregation
access and multiple device use - all from a single layer are two Aruba 8325 switches deployed as a
platform. high-availability cluster to maximise up time. In
addition, Aruba’s Virtual Switching Framework (VSF)
feature allows multiple switches (up to 10) to be
managed as one.
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 93 Wireless connectivity,
centralised control 4 Collaborative delivery
and 24/7 support:
Fast, reliable wi-fi access is provided by several As with all Qolcom projects, the Nightingale project was delivered in
Aruba 515 series access points throughout the three distinct phases - Plan, Document, Implement - all of which were
Hospital. accelerated to meet the time-critical demands of this project.
A pair of Aruba 365 series external access points Close collaboration between senior Qolcom team members and the
provide good Wi-Fi coverage to the area south of the Royal Devon & Exeter IT team confirmed the scope of the project. The
building where ambulances bring in patients. The working design was agreed quickly, followed by rapid sign off and
Aruba access points terminate on the mobility implementation.
controllers hosted at the RD&E, with centralised
management enabled via the Aruba Mobility Qolcom’s engineering team worked closely with RD&E teams on all
Master. The new Hospital is connected to the RD&E configuration tasks relating to the wired and wireless network. This
network over two dedicated 10-Gigabit BT circuits was followed by full documentation and knowledge transfer. 24/7
via core/aggregation switches interfaced directly tailored hardware/software support is now in place via a secure
with the WAN equipment. remote connection.
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 10Outcome A fast, reliable and secure IT network was delivered for the Nightingale Exeter – to a very tight timescale and on budget. The network offers superb wireless and wired connectivity throughout the site, with context-based security, reducing the IT team’s security headaches. Network management is greatly simplified, across a wide mix of users and devices. Healthcare workers can now quickly locate critical equipment through wi-fi enabled tracking, saving time and potentially lives, whilst patients are benefiting from a home-from-home experience to ensure they feel comfortable and can still speak to their loved ones through video chats (when close contact isn’t possible). The role played by IT in delivering improved healthcare experiences at the NHE was critical and with the support of Qolcom and HPE Aruba, the NHE is ready to play its part in treating patients with coronavirus. Its highly secure, easy-to-manage network infrastructure means it is also very flexible – so it can adapt to changing requirements in a rapidly-changing healthcare emergency. Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 11
Testimonial
“It is really refreshing to work with a company which has
such similar values to our organisation. The ability to
deploy this major IT solution so quickly has potentially
been life saving and a simple, secure experience, across a
wide spectrum of users, will continue to be at the heart of
Nightingale Exeter”.
Paul Hopkins,
Programme Director, NHS England
Confidential Health Tech Solution of the Year | Qolcom and HPE Aruba 12Solution Provider PLATINUM PARTNER
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