SPARK TSL is acquiring Sentean Group, a Dutch company with a complementary background in hospital entertainment and communication, and bringing its Fusion Bedside platform for clinical and patient apps to the UK.
The developments mean SPARK TSL can offer NHS Trusts ‘a unique digital platform to accelerate the adoption of innovation, and deliver quantifiable improvements in operational efficiency and patient education and engagement’. Sentean, meanwhile, can access additional resources and SPARK TSL’s Wi-Fi capabilities so it can ‘scale’ in the Dutch market, where it works with around 40 per cent of hospitals.
SPARK TSL CEO, Matt O’Donovan, said: “The Sentean Fusion Bedside product comes with an incredible range of integrations that enable the delivery of state-of-the-art apps for clinicians and patients. Years of development have gone into creating an extremely robust and scalable platform for digital transformation – whether that’s putting treatment plans into the hands of patients, or revolutionising meal ordering and nurse call systems. By putting Fusion Bedside together with our SPARK Connect Wi-Fi platform and our SPARK Media entertainment package, we will create a true bedside and bring your own device solution – and it’s going to be a game-changer for healthcare in the UK and the Netherlands.”
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, it became part of the Volaris Group, which acquired legacy bedside unit provider, Hospedia, the following year. The company says ‘almost every hospital Trust and Health Board in England and Scotland’ uses one or more of its core products. These are SPARK Connect, which delivers free Wi-Fi for staff and patients, SPARK Media, which provides access to live and catch-up TV, digital magazines, ‘games, and more’, and SPARK Media Bedside Units, a ‘state-of-the-art upgrade’ to the Hospedia units.
SPARK TSL said: “Since the acquisition of Hospedia, we have been working on a new business model to accelerate hospital productivity and captivate patients. This involves moving away from the unpopular and outdated patient-pays model for communication and entertainment, and encouraging Trusts to make these services free at the point of delivery.”
