The move underlines the company’s commitment to its SPARK Fusion platform, which delivers ‘productivity-enhancing apps’ to the bedside, alongside communication, entertainment, and information. SPARK Fusion is described as ‘a state-of-the-art platform that can be integrated with core IT systems using HL7 messaging to deliver efficiency-enhancing apps alongside communication, entertainment, and information services to staff and patients’.
David Hawkins said: “I am excited to be working for a company that is committed to helping its NHS customers to make better use of their existing infrastructure to address the productivity challenges they face. SPARK TSL is a different kind of company. It is a telecoms provider that has moved into software that can be used at the hospital bedside to deliver services that improve efficiency and outcomes.
“The Darzi review has shown that the NHS is still in the foothills of digital transformation, and there are enormous gains to be made by adopting the deeper-dive transformation that SPARK Fusion makes possible. I am looking forward to supporting SPARK Fusion customers as they go on that journey, for the benefit of their staff and patients.”
SPARK TSL is a provider of Wi-Fi to retail outlets, transport, and conference venues, but has developed a specialisation in healthcare since it started working with a large London Trust in 2005. In 2020, the company became part of the Volaris Group, which acquired legacy bedside unit provider, Hospedia, the following year. Since the acquisition, SPARK TSL says it has been encouraging Trusts and Health Boards ‘to move away from the unpopular and outdated patient-pays model for communication and entertainment’.
Last April, it acquired Sentean Group, a Dutch company with what it describes as “a unique digital platform that enables apps to be deployed at the bedside on managed or ‘bring your’ own devices”.
The apps now available to include a modern nurse call system that patients can use to indicate what they need before a nurse makes a trip to their bedside, and a food ordering app to reduce waste by enabling patients to choose meals that suit them and their condition. In the Netherlands, patients can also use the platform to control room temperature and lighting, and staff can set electronic door signs; features that align with NHS England’s vision for the ‘digital hospital’ of the future.
Matt O’Donovan, Group leader of SPARK TSL, said: “David understands technology and the benefits that it can bring to services, staff, and patients, which is the focus of SPARK Fusion. The NHS is crying out for innovation that can work with its existing systems and infrastructure to deliver real and quantifiable improvements to productivity.”