Networking and security integrator Affiniti has secured a £20m Public Finance Initiative (PFI) deal to install and manage the communications system for a new hospital development in Birmingham.
The deal will last for 12 years and see Affiniti design, build and manage the system for the £553m University Hospital in Birmingham (UHB).
Affiniti beat competition from two other unnamed providers, but was eventually selected for the contract by Balfour Beatty’s PPP/PFI healthcare arm Consort Healthcare and UHB’s IT Services department.
Richard Tobias, PFI business manager at Affiniti, said the win was a significant one for the firm.
“Voice and voice and data is now fundamental to the operation of any hospital and, unlike older hospitals with legacy systems, this was a clean sheet. We have had to convince the Trust that ours is a very robust service and a secure infrastructure.”
Tobias said the implementation will start on 1 December, when Affiniti takes control of the current Cisco and Siemens network, and as the new hospital units are built over a five-year period, the integrator will be responsible for deploying, maintaining and managing all communications requirements.
However, Tobias said the contract did not come without an element of risk: “If things are not completed to target or go wrong at any stage, we have to pay for it, but the rewards far outweigh the risk.”
Larry Rowe, IT services manager for UHB, said: “Affiniti’s service will provide the Super Hospital with the infrastructure and technology to ensure the Trust continues to deliver the highest quality of patient care, by supporting the latest medical technologies and clinical practices.”
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