UXC Connect launches healthcare business unit

UXC Connect has increased its focus in the healthcare sector, a move which the company hopes will help organisations to leverage technology and infrastructure to meet the challenges of a changing market.

“The quality of patient experience and financial performance are two critical areas for the Australian healthcare industry as they face the challenges posed by an ageing population, chronic disease and workforce shortages," says Ian Poole, CEO, UXC Connect.

While not commenting on plans to explore similar avenues in New Zealand, Poole says Australian regional and rural healthcare facilities face additional demands around resourcing, connectivity and the difficulties of attracting and retaining staff.

“With a special focus on the healthcare industry, UXC Connect is providing solutions that address the need for additional capacity, greater efficiency, better services and reduced costs," he adds.

"UXC Connect’s healthcare solutions are designed to support critical converged clinical infrastructure and enable healthcare professionals around the key areas of collaboration, mobility and safety.”

According to Poole, the healthcare offering will focus on creating a healthcare community through collaborative technologies such as mobility and unified communications - seen as key enablers of connected care.

"They provide health workers with real-time access to data at the point-of-care and let patients be active participants in managing their own wellbeing," Poole adds.

"We will also focus on safeguarding healthcare workers. One of the most significant issues for the healthcare industry is the personal safety of their people.

"Recent Government reports have highlighted the importance of accurate location information when protecting healthcare workers, with the NSW Ministry of Health recommending room-by-room location-finding accuracy in high-risk areas.

UXC Connect will also help build an efficient clinical infrastructure, adds Poole.

"A well-designed and integrated enterprise network infrastructure is key to the connected care model," he explains.

"Healthcare facilities require a robust, secure platform for exchanging up-to-date and consistent patient information and maximising the potential of enabling technologies such as virtualised infrastructure, cloud and enterprise mobility.

"These new technologies, along with complex regulations and the move to electronic health and medical records, are also creating a massive amount of data for the healthcare sector."

Rounding off the company's plans, Poole says particular attention will be paid to containing healthcare costs.

"Healthcare providers are faced with increasing challenges around managing their diverse, distributed and increasingly-complex IT environments," he adds.

"The connected care model in particular demands a robust, standardised and open IT framework to maximise the effectiveness of healthcare assets, technologies and applications.

"Managing and maintaining this framework can divert scarce resources from patient care."