12 December 2025
Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH), one of the NHS’s leading digital trusts, has transformed its ability to deliver responsive, high-quality patient care thanks to a major core-to-edge network upgrade delivered by HPE Pointnext, Aruba and long-term partner Stoneleigh Consultancy Ltd. For a trust where clinicians rely on instant access to electronic records, PACS images and mobile apps at the bedside, the old infrastructure had become a bottleneck that was increasingly hard to ignore.
The problem was straightforward, and painful. As the hospital rolled out new digital services, the legacy wired network struggled to keep up, causing outages, limitations on new applications, and rising support costs. Wireless performance had already improved following WUTH’s move to Aruba, but the wired estate remained a weak link.
“We wanted to use our Cerner Millennium system to support mobile devices at the patient’s bedside,” recalls Phil Scott, Delivery Manager Head of Informatics at WUTH. “But our network was preventing us from realising the level of service our patients demanded.”
Created in 1992, the trust depends on reliable connectivity across multiple sites to ensure clinicians can access crucial medical information when it matters most. If the network falters, so does the quality of care. With outages becoming more frequent, it was clear the time had come to build something far more resilient, scalable and ready for the future.
A partnership built on trust
WUTH didn’t just want new hardware. They wanted a partnership. After dealing with the complexity of juggling multiple vendors and mismatched technologies, the trust sought a single, integrated solution — one that could be deployed with zero disruption and provide a strong foundation for long-term innovation.
Aruba and HPE Pointnext teamed up with Stoneleigh Consultancy Ltd., a longstanding local systems integrator with deep healthcare expertise and intimate knowledge of WUTH’s environment. Stoneleigh had previously implemented WUTH’s network, giving them rare insight into the trust’s operational realities.
“In choosing a new vendor for the network upgrade, we were looking for more than a technology solution,” says Scott. “We wanted one partner to advise on the design, ensure a seamless migration, support operations and transfer knowledge to our team.”
HPE Pointnext’s track record of delivering critical infrastructure projects proved decisive. Their consultants brought proven methodologies developed across countless similar engagements, collaborating closely with Stoneleigh to design a network that would be simpler, more resilient and capable of absorbing future demands.
Designing for zero downtime
Reliability was paramount. The new design centred on resilience, availability and ease of management, using HPE Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology for built-in failover and full utilisation of network bandwidth. The solution employed HPE FlexFabric 5900AF switches at the core and HPE FlexNetwork 5130 PoE+ switches at the edge, ensuring a consistent, high-performing experience for users across the trust.
To support WUTH’s heavy reliance on PACS and other high-bandwidth services, the architecture incorporated 20 GbE switch uplinks and 80 GbE of core bandwidth. Redundant power, LACP active/active uplinks and resilient L2/L3 protocols eliminated common points of failure. Meanwhile, HPE Intelligent Management Center and Network Traffic Analyser software gave IT a single, unified view of the entire network.
Security was woven throughout, with SSH, TACACS and HPE IMC TACACS+ Authentication Manager strengthening access control and accountability. The design also ensured seamless support for Wi-Fi, IP telephony and QoS-sensitive services.
When deployment began, the goal was simple: no disruption.
“Some staff contacted me to ask when the deployment was happening,” says Scott. “I was thrilled to tell them it had already been completed and they hadn’t even noticed. That’s the kind of value HPE Pointnext and Stoneleigh brought.”
A network that just works
The impact was immediate. Network instability, and the complaints that came with it, vanished almost overnight. Clinicians using more than 700 iPads to access patient information across wards no longer experienced dropouts or black spots.
“Wi-Fi is like electricity,” says Scott. “You only hear about it if it’s not working. And we’ve stopped hearing about it altogether.”
To keep the new infrastructure running at its best, the trust adopted HPE Proactive Care for its core switches and HPE Foundation Care across the edge. This combination gives WUTH predictive insights, faster issue resolution and access to HPE specialists whenever deeper expertise is required. As Scott puts it, HPE Pointnext has become “an extension of our team,” supporting day-to-day operations while providing backup for more complex challenges.
Knowledge transfer has been a critical part of the partnership. HPE Pointnext ensured WUTH’s IT staff gained both the tools and the confidence to manage the environment independently, with expert support only ever a phone call away.
Building a digital future
For WUTH, the upgrade is more than a technical milestone — it’s a platform for continued digital innovation. The trust can now deploy new applications at speed, deliver consistently high-quality connectivity across hospital sites and ensure clinicians always have the information they need at the point of care.
It’s also helped cement WUTH’s status as one of the NHS’s leading digital organisations. The trust has been recognised as a global digital centre of excellence, offering it the chance to help other hospitals worldwide accelerate their own digital journeys.
“The success of the installation hasn’t just solved today’s problems,” says Scott. “It’s enabled us to keep innovating and ensure the best possible healthcare for our patients. Our business is to make patients better. Thanks to HPE and Stoneleigh, we now have a network we can rely on and the capacity to keep moving forward.”
