The Countess of Chester Hospital has launched free Wifi access
for all patients, visitors and staff in an effort to make the
patient experience even greater.
Up until last month the Trust provided chargeable Wifi access
to patients and visitors via an external company but the Executive
Team made the decision to provide the service for free with
immediate effect via the hospital's own IT department.
The decision was made to improve the patient experience from a
communication, entertainment and, more importantly, a quality care
point of view.
Director of Nursing & Quality, Alison Kelly explained: "We are
seeing more and more patients using modern technology via items
such as smartphones, laptops, and tablet PCs. Communication via the
internet is something that most of us take for granted but if you
are in a hospital bed and you suddenly don't have that facility on
your own device, it can be quite frustrating. We made the decision
to offer free Wifi to give patients more flexibility and control
over the way they communicate while they are here. As well as
internet access providing entertainment it also allows patients to
communicate to friends, family and carers in a number of ways such
as Facebook, Twitter, Email or even Skype video messaging for those
patients who may not get regular visits during normal visiting
times."
But it isn't just communication and entertainment that Wifi access
will be used for. Clinicians will also be able to use the mobile
access to discuss and share information with patients about their
care in the comfort of their hospital bed.
Alison added: "This gives our clinical staff the capability of
discussing a patient's care in a mobile way which means having
patient notes or test results at the touch of a button on a mobile
device which can be shown and explained to the patient in a relaxed
environment. It makes for an easier and more convenient solution
for both the patient and clinician so we see it as a major
benefit."
The Trust has used existing IT resources to implement this new free
service with no extra investment required, making it an extremely
cost effective solution.
To gain access to the Wifi network when on-site, all patients and
visitors have to do is connect to the Countess Wifi network, agree
to the terms of use, and then enter the password which is available
via a member of ward or reception staff. For more information
visit: www.coch.nhs.uk/wifi
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Countess rolls out free Wifi for patients
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