WiFi provider, WiFi SPARK, is rebranding its healthcare arm as SPARK Technology Services, with the new identity marking the completion of the integration of the former Hospedia bedside unit business, and ‘a new vision for the NHS, based on patient engagement and application services’.
Since its parent company, Volaris, acquired Hospedia, SPARK TSL has been working to move away from its ‘patient pays’ funding model, and encouraging hospitals to make the units ‘free at the point of use’. It has also been working to develop its SPARK Media platform as an ‘app store’ for healthcare, with’ technology that improves the patient experience, the working lives of professionals, and saves time and money for organisations’.
Matt O’Donovan, founder and CEO at SPARK TSL, said: “The past three years have been years of significant change for our healthcare business, and we felt it was time to reflect that with a change of name and logo. I hope the move will help Trusts and Health Boards engage with the changes we have been making, and embrace our vision for a new way of delivering technology to the frontline.”
WiFi SPARK was founded in 2003 to support the roll-out of WiFi infrastructure, and provides public WiFi to retail centres, stadia, conference venues, and transportation, as well as NHS hospitals. Its ‘flagship’ product, SPARK Connect, is a managed WiFi platform that, in the health service, gives clinicians rapid and secure access to critical IT systems at the point of care. It also developed the SPARK Media package of communication, media, and information services for patients, accessible on patients’ own devices or on SPARK Horizon – an upgraded bedside unit that makes use of existing bedside infrastructure.
SPARK TSL now wants to make SPARK Media free at the point of use, funded by Trusts, Health Boards, or their charity partners. It is reportedly already working with 120 such organisations, and is engaged with an NHS Trust undertaking a major building project to install the first Horizon bedside terminals in the hope of propelling it towards its goal of becoming a digital exemplar and improving patient outcomes.
The new SPARK TSL branding and ‘vision’ will be launched at this year’s Healthcare Excellence Through Technology show at ExCeL London, taking place from 26-27 September this year.