According to Svenska Yle, HUS switched its mobile network provider to Sonera during the spring. However the transition proved to be problematic. Because the HUS subscription is served by an old 2G network with a weak signal, medical staff at the Meilahti hospital complex have reported numerous cases in which they say patient safety has been in danger because they were unable to call for help.
The hospital said that toward the end of May, caregivers were unable to provide timely assistance for an intensive care patient in critical condition because the hospital’s mobile network didn’t work properly.
HUS medical director Markku Mäkijärvi said that the patient in question was a cardiac case who needed urgent attention from the cardiologist on duty. Because the phones are located in a blind spot in the network, it took ten minutes before staff succeeded in contacting the cardiologist Mäkijärvi did not say what happened to the patient as a result of the wait for specialist help.
"I cannot comment on individual cases," he said.
However he remarked that it was life-threatening to have to wait for the right kind of medical assistance in such situations.
Scores of problematic situations
In May, HUS decided to change operators from Elisa to Sonera, resulting in several problems over the following month, although Sonera installed a base station for HUS when the hospital district changed providers.
However the new mobile network apparently doesn’t provide sufficient coverage to meet the needs of Helsinki’s large hospital buildings. As a result the Meilahti hospital complex has some areas where phone access is difficult.
"One of these areas has been the intensive care unit at Meilahti’s tower hospital. Some parts of the Töölö hospital have the same problem," Mäkijärvi explained.
It’s still unclear how many patients have had their care compromised by the network’s blind spot. HUS officials met last Friday to discuss the problem and to get a comprehensive view of the situation.
"Over the course of three weeks in May dozens of problems were reported," Mäkijärvi revealed.
In some cases the connectivity issues resulted in delays getting doctors on-site, and in other cases users reported that the phone lines worked sporadically. The public health watchdog Valvira as well as the communications regulatory authority FICORA are now said to be looking into the matter.
"It always a very serious matter if such a critical customer experiences network problems and services suffer. We will do everything in our power to ensure that this doesn’t happen again in the future," said FICORA specialist Heidi Kivekäs.
Sonera’s communications director Tatu Tuominen also said he takes the reports seriously.
“This is a very serious matter. Customers should be satisfied with our services all the time. I am not satisfied with us either - nor with the fact that we couldn’t implement this project better,” he commented.
Old phones vulnerable
Problems with poor coverage and weak signals only affect older 2G mobile networks. But part of the problem lies with the fact that HUS is still using many older phone models.
"At HUS we have several thousands of so-called 2G phones that are cheap basic phones, but which turned out to be vulnerable in this situation," Mäkijärvi pointed out.
To try and plaster the sore, Sonera has provided the hospital district with 400 3G mobile phones. They will be used on wards where it is essential for medical staff to be able to call for further assistance. At the same time, the operator will try to figure out how to solve the 2G network problem.
