Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
Case study
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust explained
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital and community healthcare services across Greater Manchester. Centred around the Royal Bolton Hospital, the Trust delivers a wide range of specialist and community services and plays a vital role in supporting the health needs of local residents. The Trust's technology estate spans both its main acute site and a large number of community locations, supporting thousands of users and critical healthcare applications.
As demand for digital healthcare services continued to grow, the Trust recognised the importance of a network infrastructure capable of supporting modern clinical systems, delivering reliable connectivity and maintaining the highest levels of security and resilience. To achieve this, it embarked on a significant programme of network modernisation across both wired and wireless environments.
The business challenge
The Trust's existing network infrastructure had been in place for a considerable period and required a comprehensive refresh to support current and future healthcare requirements. New digital initiatives, including the deployment of critical business and clinical applications, demanded a network capable of delivering higher performance, greater resilience and improved visibility.
The challenge extended beyond the hospital campus. The Trust needed to deliver consistent connectivity across approximately 60 community locations while maintaining strict security standards and reducing operational risk. Ensuring there were no wireless coverage gaps, supporting future growth and maintaining continuous service availability were all critical requirements for the project.
The solution
Following a competitive tender process, Charterhouse was selected to design, deploy and support a new clinical-grade wired and wireless network across the Trust's acute and community estate.
Working closely with the Trust, Charterhouse undertook extensive planning, site surveys and design activities to ensure the solution reflected both current operational requirements and future ambitions. The project included a complete refresh of the core network infrastructure, extensive wireless deployment, enhanced network security and access controls, and advanced analytics for network visibility and performance monitoring.
Charterhouse also managed migration planning, deployment, testing, governance and ongoing support, ensuring the transition was completed with minimal disruption to healthcare services.
The transformation
The transformation established a resilient, high-performance network capable of supporting clinical services across both hospital and community environments. Healthcare professionals can now access critical applications more reliably, while IT teams benefit from greater visibility and control across the estate.
The project introduced a more consistent and manageable networking environment, combining wired and wireless services within a centrally managed framework. Enhanced analytics and monitoring capabilities provide deeper insight into application performance, enabling the Trust to proactively support critical systems and improve the overall user experience.
The resulting infrastructure is designed to support both current clinical needs and future digital healthcare initiatives.
The outcome
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust now benefits from a secure, scalable and future-ready network that supports healthcare delivery across its hospital campus and extensive community estate. Improved resilience, visibility and performance provide a stronger platform for clinical applications while reducing operational complexity for internal teams.
The project delivered a modern communications and connectivity foundation capable of supporting future growth, enabling the Trust to introduce new technologies with confidence while maintaining the levels of service expected in a healthcare environment. Through careful planning and partnership, the Trust has created an infrastructure built to support patient care today and tomorrow.