New hospitals award £68m voice and data contract

University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust and Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust have outsourced voice and data services for two new hospitals in the area.

A £361m PFI joint venture to build the hospitals, headed up by John Laing, has awarded the £67.6m contract over 37 years to systems integrator Affiniti.

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Kingston Communications subsidiary Affiniti will manage all voice and data systems for the buildings in University Hospital North of Staffordshire and Haywood hospital, two new hospitals being constructed in Stoke-on-Trent.

The new network is expected to enable hospital staff to log on and work anywhere in the buildings via laptops, PDAs and IP phones. Videoconferencing and a small contact centre will also be managed by the integrator.

University Hospital of North Stafford chairman Mike Brereton said in a statement: "This area has been in need of new hospitals and a new away of providing healthcare for many years but this programme is about more than new hospital buildings. It is a major element in the drive to regenerate the economy of North Staffordshire."

The two hospitals are due for completion in 2014.