Lessons learned from Wireless Trials

Over the past 4 years, NHS England has supported 15 NHS organisations to trial innovative applications of wireless connectivity technologies. The trials test the suitability and capability of these technologies to deliver improved digital healthcare and efficiency benefits in controlled environments.

In this time, we have seen many examples of sharable successes and lessons learned from real deployments.  We have also developed this guidance and a template structure of a trial to encourage and support other NHS organisations to improve patient care and drive efficiencies by using technology and running trials to test the value of their solutions.

This guidance document has been produced by the NHS England Connectivity Hub. It aims to support NHS staff and organisations in justifying and running trials of connectivity infrastructure, application integration and devices, and recommending a structure to define and measure benefits.

A trial is a small-scale implementation of a new technology to confirm its viability before and large-scale investment or main rollout of a project. The Networks and Connectivity team supported Wireless Innovation Trials, where NHS organisations trialled solutions to get the most out of their existing Wi-Fi and other wireless deployments and infrastructure.

The lessons learned and best practice shared here are specific to trials of wireless connectivity to help deliver digital healthcare and improve efficiency, and may not be applicable to other trial approaches, such as clinical or medical trials.

The terminology in this guide is based on the trialling of connectivity methods, however many of the considerations and lessons detailed could also be applied to any new applications of connectivity and hardware rollouts.

The content is 'supplier agnostic' which means we do not endorse any specific companies, innovations, or approaches. Any mention of, or link to, a specific supplier or product is not an endorsement from the Connectivity Hub or NHS England and is for illustrative purposes only.

For clarity, any recommendations made in this report are those of the report author and do not necessarily represent an endorsement, policy, or requirement from NHS England.