Royal Victoria Eye & Ear Hospital

Case Study | Managed IT solution

2 Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospita Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospital 3

OverviewEstablished more than a century ago, the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) in Dublin is one of Ireland’s longest-serving specialty hospitals, providing world-class patient services and essential specialist training in its role as a teaching hospital. A major new communications program at the RVEEH, delivered with eircom, has equipped the hospital with a robust, medical grade data and telephony infrastructure that will let the institution meet the challenges of 21st century medicine.

As part of the strategic development at the RVEEH, the hospital decided in 2007 to upgrade its voice and data infrastructure, which had reached the end of its life and no longer adequately supported the organisation or its plans for growth.

“The system was aging, we could no longer add new extensions, and moving forward we needed a voice and data system that could meet our development requirements, ” said Eddie O’Hanlon, IT Manager for the RVEEH. “In developing our original Request for Proposals, we looked ahead at our future needs. ”

An IP telephony solution was specified in the tender, and after considering the responses from a number of providers, the hospital chose eircom.

“The RVEEH is a very specialist hospital, and in future we may need to cater for transmission and flow of patient data to other institutions. With the system eircom has established for us, we’re now confident that we’ll be able to do this. ”

Eddie O’Hanlon IT Manager.

4 Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospita Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospital 5

“The people we worked with from eircom were very good and also very experienced, implementation went well, and we now have what we’d hoped for: an infrastructure that suits our needs right now and lets us move into the future. ”

Eddie O’Hanlon IT Manager.

Tailored Solution: • eircom rolled out a Cisco-based medical grade local area network throughout the hospital, with IP telephony for the hospital’s existing 250 extensions, expandable to 1,000 extensions.

Ethernet Network:• The Cisco Ethernet network, which delivers 1Gbps to the desktop with 10Gbps uplinks, replaces a highly heterogeneous legacy network with a resilient, fault-tolerant voice and data infrastructure.

Expert installation: • eircom’s own engineers, Cisco-certified for voice and data networks, handled all installation, including establishment of wireless network connectivity into the hospital’s Learning and Library Centre, an annex to the main building.

Future confidence: • “We did our research, ” Eddie said. “Having visited Cisco with eircom to see how the technology is used by other hospitals, we were satisfied that the Cisco system is internationally recognised as being very good. The RVEEH is a very specialist hospital, and in future we may need to cater for transmission and flow of patient data to other institutions. With the system eircom has established for us, we’re now confident that we’ll be able to do this. ”

Key BenefitsRVEEH & eircom

6 Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospita Case Study — Royal Victoria Hospital 7

Programme managed implementation delivers successful results

Programme managed implementation delivers successful results A joint implementation team, incorporating key hospital personnel and led by Programme Manager Peter Morgan from eircom’s Design and Delivery division, initiated delivery planning in early 2009.

Working to eircom’s proven design and delivery methodologies, the joint implementation team successfully completed rollout over a 12 week period:

A detailed project planning process developed a framework of milestones within which work was completed, and against which eircom monitored progress and reported to the Hospital Management Group

Pre-emptive action• continuously looking forward to detect potential obstacles, the team successfully identified and managed away any issues before they impacted the delivery schedule

Project Management• eircom liaised with and managed third parties where needed, including a cabling provider engaged by the hospital to upgrade its wiring

Seamless Installation •eircom’s testing and delivery methodologies helped ensure that the project, a root-and-branch replacement of communications systems, entailed no loss of communications service for hospital staff, so patient care and operational continuity were protected

Choosing eircom delivers benefits for RVEEH

The new communications infrastructure has already delivered a number of benefits for the hospital:

Future Proofed• ability to accommodate future growth needs, including additional telephone extensions inside the main hospital or Learning and Library Centre

Expanded Functionality •full wireless voice and data connectivity into the learning centre supports educational needs, including high-bandwidth applications

Positive Reception •hospital operators report very high satisfaction levels with the new, VDU equipped handsets. “Our operators who use the telephone system 24 hours a day are delighted with it, ” said Eddie. “They appreciate the VDU screens and say the ability to choose numbers from a list is much faster and more user-friendly.”

New possibilities •The data infrastructure can support Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), allowing the hospital to further explore the potential of this technology

International standard •hospitals internationally use the same Cisco infrastructure to support a range of applications, including time and attendance recording and RFID tracking of hospital assets, opening additional potential for RVEEH to drive value from its investment

Get in touchTo find out how eircom Network Design and Delivery can benefit your business, please contact your eircom account manager.

www.eircomforbusiness.ie