SPARK® TSL's Vision for the Future

What's SPARK® TSL's vision for the future? While we continue to provide and monitor WiFi and Analytics for retail, transport and private sectors, our focus has moved more towards healthcare and the beneficial services we can provide to patients and hospital staff.

Currently, we have SPARK® Media and our 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) solution for patients in hospital. Furthermore, in our recent acquisition of Hospedia, we now have hospital Bedside Units of various technology.   

As the Bedside Unit solution is our most recent venture, we aspire to improve it. This includes making patient entertainment free and upgrading the existing units for an overall better experience. Read about the latest improvements we're working on below.  

• Phase 1: Media Bedside Unit Design
• Phase 2: Media Units demo and Apps Catalogue
• Phase 3: Own devices and managed devices 
• Phase 4: Media Unit Installation and Free Entertainment 

Phase 1: Media Bedside Unit Design 

The current Hospedia Bedside Units are a great entertainment source and provide useful services. However, they are a bit dated and are limited in what they can do. That's why SPARK® TSL set out to design a new Bedside Unit which we now call SPARK® Media Bedside Units (BSU). This new product runs under our new branding, SPARK® TSL.  

Before this product could come to fruition, our products team was hard at work designing the new Media Unit.  

Part of this development included recognising the need for a variety of sizes. The current Bedside Units are restricted to their mounts, and there are no other options available. Horizon is not going to be like that. Some of them can be hand-held, while others are set up on bedside cradles, trolleys, and walls depending on their size and the patient’s requirement.

This initial design included the provision of useful ports such as two USB and headphone ports. The manoeuvrable Horizon units on trolleys have rechargeable batteries so ward staff don’t have to worry about trailing wires that could be a trip hazard. Another consideration was how to install them with the least disruption. That’s why they have been designed to utilise the existing infrastructure of the old Bedside Units, so it’s a simple swap and change. By using this infrastructure, the NHS saves millions by replacing it. 

In line with the physicality of the design comes the software that runs on the device. It’s powered by Android software and uses our SPARK® software to access our four engagement pages containing various apps.

These pages cover Trust services, patient care, charities, and our vast entertainment selection. Each engagement page has a selection of web apps relevant to its page type. The only page slightly different is the entertainment page, which has apps and a range of Freeview TV and Radio entertainment channels.

Phase 2: Media Units demo and Apps Catalogue 

We had our first official demonstration of SPARK® Media BSU at the HETT show in London in September 2022. The vision of this design came to life while showcasing our extensive apps catalogue ,which is constantly growing.