Background

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is the leading provider of health and social care services for people of all ages living in Surrey.

Challenges

With the opening of a new building, the Farnham Road Hospital, the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS trust wanted a Digital Signage screen to deliver their internal communication to both staff and patients. They no longer wanted to use old fashioned and messy looking pin noticeboards and wanted a modern and orderly signage display. They contacted Allsee in August 2015 after we provided Digital Signage screens for the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Drugs and Alcohol services in 2014. Due to the nature of the project they wanted to work directly with the manufacturer. They had multiple requirements for the new screen which were as follows:

• Tamper Proof and Vandal Resistant – As the screen was going to be mounted in a public space the NHS Trust needed a display that could not be tampered with or changed using external controls. They also needed the screen to be in a robust commercial enclosure with a toughened tempered glass front.
• Wireless Updates – They wanted to be able to control and update the screen remotely.
• Internet Connection Flexibility – When they contacted us the new buildings setup was still unknown in terms of a network connection. They wanted to be able to connect via Ethernet but also to have Wi-Fi available as a backup.
• Portrait Orientation – They asked for help in acquiring a wall mount that would allow them to mount the screen in portrait as all of their content was created in this orientation.
• Installation – The installation also needed to be taken care of as there were no permanent contractors left on site.

Solutions

The solution was simple; we provided a 47” Android All-in-One Network Advertising Display. This display is able to fulfil all of their requirements. In regards to damage from vandals; with a tempered glass front and robust mild steel enclosure, the display is built specifically for public environments. There are also no external buttons or controls to prevent any members of the public tampering with the screen. To get the wireless updates an All-in-One Network Screen was needed. Our Network Screens allow users to update their screen from anywhere in the world. The all-in-one nature of the screen means that once connected, via LAN, Wi-Fi or 3G, you can control and update the screens though our online portal. The screens also come with a complimentary super-slim wall mount that supports both landscape and portrait orientation so we were able to supply this at no extra cost.

As the client wanted to work directly with the manufacturer we were also required to install the screen in October of 2015 IT Technical Innovations Lead, David Sandy, had this to say about working with Allsee during the installation.

“I wanted to write to say what a pleasure it was working with your colleagues on Tuesday with the installations. They were very professional, on time, polite and respectful of the environments they were working in.”

After the installation was complete the next stage was to help them to get their screen connected to our CMS server. Due to the high level of security restrictions in place on their network some alterations needed to be made to allow the screen to talk with our server. With patient confidentiality a top priority, our technical team worked closely with the IT department of the hospital to help bypass their strict firewalls and get the screen communicating with our server so that it could be controlled and updated remotely. As we offer free lifetime technical support on all of our products we were then able to educate the team in how to use the CMS portal and get the most from their screen.

Results

Digital Signage is a great way to help internal communication. With our signage screens the trust is now able to display more targeted messages on a large captivating vibrant display. Now that the screen is up and running David Sandy had this to say about his experience of dealing with Allsee:

“I wish dealing with all suppliers could be as effective and pain free as it has been with yourselves – thank you and keep up the good work!”

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have also expressed an interest in providing Digital Signage screens for other sites in the future.

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