Free Wi-Fi the next step in enhancing patient experience

Free Wi-Fi the next step in enhancing patient experience

Patients and visitors now have access to free, high speed Wi-Fi at North Shore Hospital, Waitakere Hospital as well as most clinical and community sites.

Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley said patients had consistently told the DHB when rating their hospital experience that the availability of Wi-Fi would improve their hospital stay.

“Free Wi-Fi without a time limit means our patients can now stay in touch with family and friends, keep up to date with personal and business matters, and access news and entertainment platforms during their stay,” said Dr Bramley.

“We’re pleased to respond directly to patient feedback and provide a service that improves patient morale and eases the sense of boredom or social isolation that can come from being unwell in hospital.”

“We’ve removed the hour time limit and made it entirely free of charge to ensure it’s available to all our patients and their whanau for as long as they need it,” says Dr Bramley.

“We pride ourselves on high quality clinical care. But, in addition, we’re also prioritising our obligation to make the patient journey as welcoming and supportive as possible,” says Dr Bramley.

More than 500 access points have been progressively installed at Waitemata by the DHB’s shared service IT provider healthAlliance since 2014 with the Wi-Fi service now available at most clinical sites through the ‘Hospital Hotspot’ network.

Patients and members of the public were able to access one hour of free Wi-Fi when the service was first introduced with a small fee charged thereafter. The time limit and fee has now been removed, enabling continual access.

The network is equipped with sophisticated content filtering technology which can block certain websites.

The introduction of free Wi-Fi goes hand-in-hand with a pilot the DHB is running with Vodafone in Ward 7 at North Shore Hospital. The ward is the first in the country where every patient is provided with a bedside iPad.

The devices are already helping patients keep connected with their lives outside of the hospital providing considerable benefit to their recovery journey and ability to get back to their daily lives after a hospital stay.

The trial includes 28 bedside iPad devices provided by Vodafone and supported by back-end technology. These will be available in Ward 7 at North Shore Hospital until an evaluation is complete on whether the iPads will be made available at all DHB hospital wards.

ENDS

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