Midland Metropolitan University Hospital

“The benefits of working with Wavenet are - they very much seek to understand what the problem is that you are trying to solve. Often, they were thinking beyond what we were thinking, so they were able to, often at times, once they understood what it was the journey we were trying to take, they could then suggest solutions along the way aswell.”

Mark Taylor, Director of IT and Digital at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

About the customer

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is an integrated provider of acute, community, and primary care services to a population of over 327,000 across the West Midlands. With more than 7,000 staff, the Trust manages several sites, including a Treatment Centre and an Eye Hospital.

A key milestone in the Trust’s ongoing transformation is the opening of Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH). This is a new 10-floor, 710-bed facility that consolidates services from older hospitals into a modern, digitally-enabled care environment. MMUH is designed to act as the Trust’s acute hub, enhancing care in inpatient wards, radiology, maternity, children’s services, and emergency departments, while also supporting the wider local community.

The challenge

The Trust embarked on a complex programme to consolidate emergency departments and clinical services from Sandwell General and Birmingham City Hospitals into MMUH. This required a voice infrastructure capable of supporting:

• High stakes migration under tight deadlines
  The telephony system had to be fully live before MMUH opened, with no margin for error.
• Coexistence with legacy systems
  Departments would migrate in phases, meaning they had to facilitate temporary interoperability between old and new systems.
• Trust-wide communication unification
  Multiple legacy voice platforms had to be replaced with a single, resilient, centrally managed system that spanned all sites within the Trust.
• Support for Emergency Protocols
  The infrastructure needed to enable rapid, secure, and broadcast-style communication for clinical escalation, including trauma and crash calls.
• Scalability for the Future
  The Trust required a flexible platform that could evolve with future tech, including cloud services, Microsoft Teams, AI tools, and omni-channel patient engagement.

The solution

In partnership with the Trust’s IT and clinical teams, we delivered a comprehensive Mitel-based voice platform designed to serve both the immediate operational needs of MMUH and the long-term digital strategy of the entire Trust.

Key components of the solution included:

• Phased, risk-free migration
  Our hybrid architecture allowed departments to transition incrementally, while continuing to use legacy platforms. This ensured zero disruption to the Trust’s services.
• Unified Mitel telephony across the Trust
  All hospital sites and departments now operate on a single, secure, high-availability platform. This delivers seamless communication across wards, clinics, and even external locations.
• Enhanced emergency communication and public safety
  To increase safety in emergency situations, we implemented several special Bedlam devices – special handsets that can audibly broadcast calls across entire departments. This ensures urgent alerts are heard immediately by all nearby staff. Also, public areas are now equipped with phones to allow visitors to immediately contact support teams and emergency assistance.
• Resilient and redundant network design
  Dual connectivity paths, on-site survivability appliances, analogue copper backups, and automatic failover mechanisms ensure that systems stay operational, even during infrastructure failures.
• Contact centre and emergency service integration
  We provided seamless interoperability with the Trust’s existing contact centre system, enabling intelligent call routing and management of critical lines such as the Trust’s 2222 emergency service.
• Modern SIP telephony and cloud-based routing
  Modern SIP endpoints and a cloud-based routing layer offer resilience for both inbound and outbound calls. This strengthens the Trust’s business continuity framework.
• Scalable and future-proof architecture
  Built to support emerging technologies without a full redesign, the platform enables integration with Microsoft Teams, workforce management, and AI-driven analytics as future demands evolve.

"Wavenet's solution means we have a stable telecoms platform. They key thing for clinicians was to be able to maintain the provision of service without interruptions. For example, our 2222 emergency medical response teams are reliant on having a functioning 24 hour 365 service from telecoms... and it has been a seamless transition across."

Ed Fogden

Consultant Gastroenterologist and Co-Chief Clinical Information Officer

The results

We have delivered a resilient, intelligently designed communications infrastructure that supports exceptional clinical delivery both at MMUH and across other Trust sites.

Key outcomes include:

• Uninterrupted launch of operations
  MMUH launched with a fully operational telephony system. This meant uninterrupted clinical communications from day one, supporting continuous delivery of care.
• Improved staff collaboration across sites
  The new unified communications platform simplifies communications and enables smoother inter-departmental coordination.
• Faster, more coordinated emergency responses
  Broadcast-enabled trauma alerts and accessible emergency phones improve clinical response times and public safety.
• Business continuity and operational resilience
  Redundant links, cloud routing, and local failover capabilities protect against service disruptions, even during unplanned events.
• A scalable foundation for digital innovation
  The Trust is now positioned to adopt new technologies, improve patient engagement, and scale its digital strategy with confidence.

 “During our project, Wavenet were very agile and responsive, and when we needed them to provide resources in certain areas, they were able to provide that resource. Thanks to Wavenet, we have been able to deliver a landmark transformation that ensures a connected, efficient and future-ready healthcare environment for the local community.” 

Mark Taylor, Director of IT and Digital at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 

If you’d like to find out more about how we could help your business with the areas covered in this case study, then get in touch at enquiries@wavenet.co.uk.