Ascom to Provide UK’s Largest NHS Mental Health Trust with 8 Year Service Contract Worth £1.2M

Ascom UK have signed a contract to provide South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) with an 8-year maintenance contract.

The contract comes after Ascom’s successful win in 2012 to provide the Trust with an enterprise-wide end-to-end staff protection alarm solution. The IP-DECT solution, which is currently being installed across 4 major locations, will be supported by this new contract.

The contract will cover all fixed and mobile equipment across Bethlem Royal, Maudsley and Lambeth hospitals as well as the Ladywell Unit at Lewisham. In addition to this, Ascom have incorporated a bespoke element by agreeing to cover the Trusts existing third-party alarm system until that is replaced. This will help the Trust by having one point of contact should the system incur any problems.

"We’ve worked with SLaM for over 20 years now. Over this period we’ve implemented different technologies and with that came different service contracts. We have consolidated those separate contracts into one, making it manageable for them and for us”, says Lee Minall, Strategic Account Manager – Healthcare, Ascom UK.

South London & Maudsley NHS Trust is one of the largest mental health trusts within the UK, with 68 inpatient wards across multiple hospital sites, offering a wide range of services.

The service contract will cover all 3 locations with 24/7 cover, this ensures an engineer is on-site within a guaranteed response time. Additionally the contract will provide service reviews, incident management and on-site training.

"Having a consolidated contract for support means we have a single point of reference for anything to do with our staff alarms. Ascom has been very open in working together with the Trust to manage their risk of older failing life expired handsets, along with the aim of protecting our clients & staff . The Trust are reassured to know that our life safety systems are future proof protected now, as well as our people”, says Kevin Leader, Head of Engineering, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

Further to this contract, SLaM will be upgrading over 400 of their older Ascom 9d24 handsets to robust Ascom d81 devices. This will ensure the Trust has the latest technology in the palm of their hands. The handset is IP65 rated and comes with a choice of alarm triggers.

Ascom’s staff protection solution has been based upon extensive knowledge in how to integrate with and support healthcare workflows in this challenging environment. The system itself is based on DECT technology providing location detection via DECT locators, ‘follow-me’ lights and listening in features. Staff are able to see and hear the location of triggered alarms all of this combined with the added benefit of voice.

The Ascom SLaM relationship spans over 20 years, this £1.2M contract is another big step in further strengthening this long-term partnership.

For more information visit www.ascom.co.uk

ABOUT ASCOM WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

Ascom Wireless Solutions (www.ascom.com/ws) is a leading provider of on-site wireless communications for key segments such as hospitals, elderly care, independent living, manufacturing industries, secure establishments, retail and hotels. More than 75,000 systems are installed at major companies all over the world. The company offers a broad range of voice and professional messaging solutions, creating value for customers by supporting and optimizing their Mission-Critical processes. The solutions are based on VoWiFi, IP-DECT, nurse call and paging technologies, smartly integrated into existing enterprise systems. The company has subsidiaries in 13 countries and 1,200 employees worldwide. Founded in 1955 and based in Göteborg, Sweden, Ascom Wireless Solutions is part of the Ascom Group, listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange.