Replacement of pagers (bleeps) in the NHS
Dear South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,
I am undertaking a study on technology adoption within the NHS.
On 23 February 2019, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that NHS trusts should have infrastructure in place to replace pagers (bleeps) by 30 September 2021, with complete phase out of pagers (bleeps) by 31 December 2021.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/healt...
Under the FOI Act, please provide the following information, with "pagers" used as a synonym for "bleeps":
1. As at 31 May 2021, how many pagers were in use in your Trust?
2. For the financial year ending 31 March 2021, what is the total annualised cost of pagers (broken down by equipment rental, licences, low value equipment replacement, maintenance of infrastructure, depreciation on capital assets and any other costs)?
3. What stage of procurement and implementation is your Trust currently at and what are the achieved and proposed times for the various steps (e.g. business case approved, tender issued, contract awarded, implementation started, test system is live/user acceptance testing, deployed system is live)?
4. If a contract has been awarded, which pager replacement system has your Trust selected?
5. What additional features does your proposed (or implemented) pager replacement system have, compared with previous capability? (e.g. integration with electronic patient record)
6. How many *users* and how many *devices* will the pager replacement system have?
7. What is the estimated total annualised cost of the replacement system (broken down by equipment rental, licences, low value equipment replacement, maintenance of infrastructure, depreciation on capital assets and any other costs)?
8. Will the trust retain some pagers for *emergency* communications or will emergency communications be handled by the pager replacement system? If some pagers are being retained, how many?
9. If the pager replacement system fails, what will be used as a backup system? (e.g. do you have plans to use staff personal devices?)
10. Is the Trust on course to phase out pagers for *non-emergency* communications by 31 December 2021? If not, by when?
11. Is there a benefits realisation plan or post-implementation monitoring plan in place?
Many thanks for your help.
Yours faithfully,
Constantinos Regas
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Information Governance Team
[1]South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust
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[2]South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust
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Good afternoon,
We use Everbridge and still have 20 MIA Pagers until the Everbridge Connection to our CAD system is completed.
This announcement doesn't affect our Trust as it's a ban on Non-Emergency Pagers and ours are purely Alerters.
I hope this information meets your requirements but if you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by writing to: Will Hancock, Chief Executive, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Units 7 & 8 Talisman Business Centre, Talisman Road, Bicester, Oxon, OX26 6HR.
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone 0303 123 1113 Website https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/offi...
Kind regards
Information Governance
01869 363177 or 01869 365000 Ext 5407
[South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Unit 7 & 8| Talisman Business Centre| Talisman Road| Bicester| Oxfordshire| OX26 6HR
Dear FOI,
Thank you for your response.
Rather than request an internal review, would you be able to clarify please?
a) If I have understood correctly, you will no longer be using the alerters once the Everbridge connection to CAD is complete. Is that right?
b) Please provide an answer to question 2 (current costs).
c) If you are disposing of your alerters, will there be different features or a cost for whatever devices replace them? If yes, please answer question 5 (features) and question 7 (future costs).
many thanks
Constantinos
Good morning,
Please see our responses below in purple.
I hope this information meets your requirements but if you are unhappy
with the way your request for information has been handled, you can
request a review by writing to: Will Hancock, Chief Executive, South
Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Units 7 & 8 Talisman Business Centre,
Talisman Road, Bicester, Oxon, OX26 6HR.
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone 0303 123 1113 Website
[1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/offi...
Kind regards
Information Governance
01869 363177 or 01869 365000 Ext 5407
[2][South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Unit 7 & 8| Talisman Business Centre| Talisman Road| Bicester|
Oxfordshire| OX26 6HR
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