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NHS Wales

Case Study

Industry: Healthcare
Company size: 78,000 employees
 

Pexip helped NHS Wales modernize and scale up their video conferencing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic

 

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About NHS Wales

NHS Wales is the publicly funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. NHS Wales provides emergency services and a range of primary, secondary, and specialist tertiary care services. The organization employs almost 78,000 staff who work in a variety of settings. In addition to staff employed directly by the NHS there are contractor professions including dentists, opticians, pharmacists and nearly 2,000 doctors who predominantly work in primary care settings.

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In Summary

 

Challenges 

  • Modernize video conferencing to meet the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Move from an on-premise service to the cloud
  • Rapid need for interoperability between Pexip and Microsoft Teams
  • Facilitate remote working and connect with staff working in hospitals
  • Meet GDPR and NHS Wales Information Governance compliance

 

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Pexip Solutions

  • Adoption of Pexip Cloud Video Interoperability (CVI) with some Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs)

 

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Results

  • Helped maintain patient care throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Smooth upgrade to an effective cloud service with seamless integration between Pexip and Microsoft
  • Enabled remote and hybrid working while meeting an increase in demand
  • Provided a “value for their money” service within limited budgets

Challenges

NHS Wales began using video conferencing in 1989, and by 2020 they had more than 500 room systems and 1000+ PC software clients for supporting medical care in dedicated cancer multidisciplinary rooms, hospital wards, and postgraduate centers. These systems also support all varieties of meetings, from day-to-day management to critical care such as cancer multidisciplinary team case meetings.

However, by 2019 the on-premise system was nearing the end of its life and NHS Wales started to move from Skype over to Microsoft Teams. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 created a huge challenge in combining the rapid shift to Microsoft Teams with facilitating the rapidly growing numbers of employees working remotely to provide patient care. After substantial investments in traditional video conferencing endpoints made by NHS Wales over the years, the introduction of Pexip was poised to help them fully optimize this technology.

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Why Pexip?

NHS Wales started evaluating Pexip in 2019, initially as an on-premise solution interconnecting traditional video conferencing with an on-premise Skype for Business platform. After the move to Microsoft Skype online and eventually Microsoft Teams, Pexip was able to offer an alternative solution that ticked all the boxes.

NHS Wales started piloting the Pexip system while their key remote staff moved to Microsoft Teams. As the pandemic took hold, important areas for testing were cancer multidisciplinary meetings that had moved to Microsoft Teams. It was here that Pexip delivered impressive results, instilling the confidence needed to roll out the system more widely. Pexip was invited to national service management board meetings to introduce their technology and demonstrate the benefits of Cloud Video Interoperability (CVI). With the Pexip system shown to be effective, it was decided that it would become available to all staff across all of NHS Wales.

“When it became clear that we needed to have a cloud service, Pexip demonstrated value for money while providing the level of service we required. As the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Pexip were quick to support us in the adoption of the cloud service.”
Chris Barber, Product Specialist, Digital Health and Care Wales
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Results

One of the big benefits has been the ability to continue using traditional video conferencing endpoints with new ways of working remotely. For NHS Wales, this means that their organization can get more out of the existing investment and phase in devices compatible with Microsoft Teams while keeping within limited budgets.

“The need to connect back to colleagues in hospitals using traditional endpoints was urgent, so we needed to move quickly,” says Chris Barber, Product Specialist, Digital Health and Care Wales. “Pexip was able to provide a cloud service in the tight timescales we had.”

Secure encryption of communications is critical for protecting patient information and Pexip’s security protocols are able to meet the exacting demands of GDPR, as well as complying with NHS Wales’ Information Governance.

NHS Wales achieved the high level of service they needed using Pexip CVI with some Virtual Meeting Rooms and the video conferencing endpoints working in a standalone mode. After a successful retender of the service, they are now considering a move to Enterprise Room Connector that will extend the capabilities of meeting rooms even further.

“For NHS Wales the biggest impact has been in being able to maintain services when many staff are working remotely and more flexibly,” says Chris. “Maintaining patient care has been the main priority throughout.”


Learn more about how Pexip is helping healthcare providers and government organizations around the world deliver modern telehealth solutions.