Roche Care Homes — WiFi & network upgrade

The requirement

Roche Care Homes’ existing WiFi was struggling to keep up. Inconsistent coverage was affecting staff use of digital health-monitoring tools, dropouts were interrupting residents’ calls with family, and the network simply hadn’t been built for the number of devices now in daily use by staff, residents and visitors.

Our scope

• A survey of the existing infrastructure in each home
• A network design covering the whole of each property — communal areas, private rooms and outdoor spaces
• Installation of new access points and network equipment, cloud-managed from one place
• Staff training at handover
• A 12-month on-site support warranty

Delivery and constraints

• Occupied homes. Residents and staff were in every building throughout, so work was phased and planned around each home’s care routine rather than the other way round.
• One phase at a time. Each phase was completed and tested before the next began.
• Existing infrastructure first. Each home was surveyed before anything was specified, so the design reflected what was already there.

Outcomes

• 14 access points and 22 managed devices across the homes, all visible and managed centrally in the cloud.
• Coverage across communal areas, private rooms and outdoor spaces for staff devices, residents and visitors.
• Staff trained at handover, with a 12-month on-site support warranty and a single point of contact for support.
• Completed, in the words of Roche’s development director, “with minimal disruption to the site”.

“Thanks to all the team for your work in getting this all completed again with minimal disruption to the site. It's much appreciated and all the homes have been very positive about CareHomeWiFi.”