Purple, the intelligent spaces company, has installed its WiFi and analytics solution at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and it has proved to be a big hit with patients both young and old.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust is an acute hospital serving the communities of West Norfolk, South Lincolnshire and East Cambridgeshire. Before last summer, the hospital only had WiFi access in a privately-operated coffee shop at the front of the site, which meant there was no connectivity in any of their wards or waiting rooms.
As part of its programme to improve patient experience across the Trust, they began to consider what WiFi solution would work best for its patients. They recognised that a secure, free connectivity solution was particularly essential in their Roxburgh Children’s Centre, as young patients and their parents like to be able to stream videos and access interactive websites during their stay.
In just over 2 weeks, Purple’s guest WiFi was live using existing Cisco equipment and accessible to patients via a dedicated splash page where they can login via a simple form. In the first full month of WiFi access, a total of 5,847 people logged into the service and in January 2017 this figure had increased by almost 10%.
Michael West, Head of ICT at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The feedback that we have received from patients about the WiFi has been very positive, the weekly KPI’s that we receive from Purple’s portal prove that the offering is well used.”
To date, the hospital’s free guest WiFi has been very popular, with almost 23,000 visitors accessing the solution since it was installed. Purple’s analytics also demonstrated that 42% of people accessing the WiFi are aged 45 and over, with almost 20% of this group aged 65+.
Michael adds: “The user demographics have proved particularly interesting. Our main demographic at the hospital is elderly patients and in initial discussions about WiFi many people believed that this age category wouldn’t use the service. However, this has not been the case as many of our older patients use it. This information is useful to justify the usage amongst our largest demographic.”
The marketing team at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital eventually plan to roll out communications to the large database of emails that have been collected by Purple’s WiFi and analytics solution. The content will range from a simple reminder for visitors to wash their hands and control infection whilst on site, to information about winter flu vaccinations for elderly patients post visit.
Commenting on the collaboration with the hospital, Gavin Wheeldon, CEO of Purple said: “We’re proud to be working with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn and it’s great to see that the guest WiFi has received a good reception from patients. The Trust now has a wealth of CRM data available to them, which means the marketing communications should reach a wide and relevant audience.”
Read the full ROI case study to find out how the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn connected patients and obtained over 23,000 CRM records.