West Suffolk Hospital is a large district general hospital in Bury St Edmunds, managed by the West Suffolk NHS Foundation trust and providing accident & emergency, maternity, oncology and palliative care services.

Already boasting a purpose-built Macmillan unit, dedicated eye treatment centre, day surgery unit, 460 beds and 13 theatres, the WSFT constantly look to expand and improve the hospital’s facilities.

A recent £5.2 million build initiative saw the conversion of a stores area to a state-of-the-art cardiac catheterisation and pacing suite.  Having provided entertainment technology to the WSFT on two previous occasions, Airwave was approached to recommend a system for the hospital’s new ward.

“As typical of many new buildings” said head of healthcare sales Jes Redgard “there was no RF network to supply a TV signal to patient bedsides.”

Airwave circumnavigated this issue by providing a baluns (RF over data network over a twisted pair cable) solution.

“Not only was this able to distribute a RF signal to bedside, it negated the need for an expensive IPTV headend and is a lower cost, more robust option than a distribution hub” said Jes Redgard.

A further problem was presented by the ward’s exceedingly low suspended ceiling.  This required a detailed survey of each bed position and the provision of a mixture of arm lengths (1.1m to 1.5m) and stopper positions to ensure arm movement was not affected.

Airwave supplied and installed Glamox Luxo medical wall arms, housing Philips 19HFL4010W healthcare TVs. The Philips “Heartline” range features a number of dedicated healthcare features such as antimicrobrial housing and a medical grade power supply.

Aiding the wards space management directive, Airwave wall-mounted perspex RC holders, attaching each remote control to a curly cord, preventing loss and theft.