Envisioning a collaborative acute care sector that transforms patient's lives

About RUHB

The Royal United Hospital Bath (RUHB) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately 1.5 miles west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a 52-acre site. It is the area's major accident and emergency hospital, with a helicopter landing point on the adjacent Lansdown Cricket Club field. The hospital is operated by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. 

The hospital provides acute treatment and care (including Accident & Emergency) for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and West Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by three clinical commissioning groups (CCG): Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire CCG; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG; and Somerset CCG. 

The Challenge

Employing around 4,800 staff, the RUHB is progressing through an incremental estates re-development phase across their site. The Trust had an ambitious 5-year plan to redevelop the site including an upgrade to its communication estate and voice infrastructure. 

Voice services are a critical infrastructure for the hospital both for internal and external communications. The impact of this service being unavailable or degraded is life-threatening and therefore the project had to be handled with care and attention to detail. RUHB had an old PABX solution on premise which was nearing the end of support and required modernisation. 

Our Approach

StableLogic undertook a 5 phase project to modernise unified communications at RUHB. 

1. Requirements – The first task was to conduct a detailed requirements gathering process which resulted in a comprehensive set of requirements documentation. The team leveraged MoSCoW to prioritise the requirements and provide a foundational success criteria for the technology. 
   
2. Strategy – Using our experience, StableLogic compiled a number of options for RUHB to consider. These included different topologies, features, connectivity and budgets. StableLogic worked with RUHB to create a preferred strategy for board approval. 
   
3. Procurement – The Trust and StableLogic decided to procure the new technologies through a CCS framework using further competition. StableLogic compiled all required documentation and managed the end to end process, updating the Trust at key points. 
   
4. Contracting – The contracting was managed through a collaborative effort working hand in glove with the Trusts legal representative and StableLogic. 
   
5. Implementation – RUHB were impressed with the quality of work delivered by StableLogic and therefore continued our partnership through to solution implementation. StableLogic provided technical oversight and project management support to deliver the new solution and oversee the new supplier throughout the rollout. 

The Results

The project resulted in significant enhancements to unified communications at RUHB, enabling employees, patients and visitors to collaborate across multiple channels. 

The key outcomes included: 

• New Features – The solution unlocked new features for the Trust including chat, voicemail transcription, presence and video
• Enhanced Resiliency – The solution design improved the platform availability and gave the Trust options more options in the case a DR event
  
• Value – The competitive sourcing approach led to the Trust achieving maximum value.
• Innovation – The modern tooling allows the Trust to innovate further in the future, serving as a strong foundation for solution evolution