Hibox | County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust selects Hibox Smartroom for Digital Signage

Cambridge, UK, 6th of July, 2021 – County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has chosen Smartroom Health, an advanced multiscreen content management system by Hibox Systems, to provide clear and reliable digital signage in three of its hospitals – Darlington Memorial Hospital, University Hospital of North Durham and Bishop Auckland Hospital. This progressive system also enables patient TV entertainment services to be managed from the same server, leading to greater operational efficiencies and time savings compared to multi-server systems.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in England. Its 7,500 staff serve a population of around 650,000. The Smartroom Health solution by Hibox was seen to fit seamlessly into the hospital’s business systems, and furthers the Trust’s mission to provide the safest, most compassionate and joined-up care for the populations it serves.

Commenting on the implementation, Nigel Hauxwell, IT manager at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said, “With Smartroom Health, our hospitals can create an exceptional patient experience by providing visual information and content on more than 40 digital signage screens and door displays. The installation went smoothly and we can now control display screens from just one server, getting maximum value from our IT budget.

Screens in public areas are now used to provide clear real-time communications to patients, visitors and staff, including general information, waiting times, news, general messages and café menus. This is displayed on the large digital signage screens while smaller doorway displays outside meeting rooms are used to show current and upcoming reservations. In addition to patient-facing displays, the Trust also utilises Smartroom Health’s built-in tools for room allocation.

“We discovered the need for more efficient and reliable signage at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s hospitals only last summer,” said Staffan Granholm, CEO, Hibox Systems. “We were delighted to be able to make an agreement and install our Smartroom system in just a few months, and that Smartroom Health lives up to the visions and expectations of the Trust, delivering an engaging experience to patients and staff. We are proud of our first installation for the NHS, and we are confident this will be followed by many more, as it has in the Nordics where Smartroom Health is becoming the de facto standard for large hospitals.”

Project management in the UK was performed by Lorna Garrett, Managing Director of Zest Technologies (formerly of Garland Partners). “Working with the Trust’s IT and Communications teams to fully understand their signage needs and the outcomes they wanted for user engagement, ongoing system management and budget, I was able to highly recommend the Hibox digital signage solution,” says Lorna. “At Zest, as experts in IPTV and digital solutions, we ensure the solutions we offer will be reliable and secure, are cost effective and are easy to manage.”

About Hibox Systems
Hibox Systems provides advanced interactive information, entertainment and communication solutions for business customers in the hospitality, healthcare and telecom industries. Our products are sold by a large network of affiliates and resellers around the world. Hibox is part of the Accedo Group, and our headquarters is located in Turku, Finland. Learn more at www.hibox.tv and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

About Zest Technologies Limited
Zest Technologies provides best-in-class, quality video contribution solutions to meet its UK and global customers’ video technology needs, including helping them to reliably deliver high-quality, low-latency video over any managed or unmanaged IP or satellite network. Zest Technologies is built on a solid foundation of video technology expertise and a strong reputation for dependable, quality service. Customers range in size and application, and Zest Technologies’ strength is its flexibility in matching the right technology to client needs. For more information, visit our website at www.zest-technologies.co.uk.

About Hibox Smartroom
Hibox Smartroom is a complete hospitality TV and multi-display system providing entertainment, information and communication services, has been part of our core product offering since we started in 2005, and today we serve over 10 million end-users all over the world on a yearly basis.

Media contacts
Christopher Cytera, Smartroom Health Consultant (UK)
Hibox Systems
christopher.cytera(at)hibox.tv