04 October 2021

(L to R) Debbie Coulson, director of
income generation, Steph Carter-Smith,
city manager for CityFibre and Anne
Cooling, head of corporate development

Independent full fibre platform CityFibre has supported staff and patients at a home providing care for the sick and terminally ill by donating wireless access points to boost coverage and overcome poor quality signal struggles.

Teesside Hospice, based in Middlesbrough, provides essential care for people and families who are living with a terminal illness. It has been suffering with poor signal quality, causing disruption to key processes, including logging medical records and internal communications, as well as limiting the online experience for patients. The donation will give all internet users access to better connectivity ahead of CityFibre’s full fibre rollout in the area.

Teesside Hospice is in the planned build area for CityFibre’s full fibre rollout, meaning the building will soon have the option of switching to full fibre enabled services. Construction of CityFibre’s £42m network formally began in May and upon completion, it will be in reach of nearly every home and business in the town.

“We’re proud to support the essential work of Teesside Hospice and even more excited to one day connect them to our full fibre network, supercharging the way staff work, the care they can offer and the ability for patients to communicate with family and friends,” said Steph Carter-Smith, city manager at CityFibre. “Ultimately, we’re hopeful that the network we’re building in Middlesbrough, as well as other locations throughout the UK, will enable quality of life improvements for lots of hospitals, hospices and care homes, making a huge difference.”

Anne Cooling, head of corporate development, Teesside Hospice, added: “We want to say a massive thank you to City Fibre and MAP Group for their donations of Unifi access points that will significantly improve the Wi-Fi signal at Teesside Hospice. The current signal quality is poor and causing disruption to patient and visitor communications and having an impact on the efficiency of nurses taking notes for medical records.”