Hello, I’m Tom Boyle, the Head of Telecoms at Sheffield Teaching Hospital: the combined acute and community NHS foundation trust covers most of the city’s adult community services, including two major hospitals and three specialised ones. I also consult at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust and co-chair the National Performance Advisory Group, which brings together NHS telecoms professionals.
My main responsibility is to look after voice and communications. I manage numerous technologies such as paging (both mobile and wide area), alongside the hospital’s contact centres, switchboards and telecoms engineers.
Effective communication is key to keeping care teams informed and ensuring patients receive the highest standard of care. The NHS relies on telephone calls, internally and externally. You need telecoms to book an appointment, for example. Yes, it is no secret that there is a lack of choice in healthcare! My team is trying to address this by re-strategising how its organisations operate: the requirements of patients need to be better understood.
Excitingly, opportunities are unfolding for telcos in the healthcare market. The UK’s Digital Health Market size is estimated at £10 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach £24 billion by 2029 Mordor Intelligence has found.
However, there is a major skills gap. Lots of our staff are ex-BT and ex-military and came to the NHS for a new start, but they are either ready to retire or have retired now. We will need to recruit more people. I want everyone to know that the NHS has telecom roles.
What do you enjoy most about working in this space?
The people. I’ve made friends with suppliers globally, including commercial and non-commercial clients. Collaborating with people overseas is always nice.
What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done in the name of work?
I often find myself standing on top of a hospital in Sheffield. It’s usually the middle of the night and I’m wearing pyjamas under my clothes, having been woken up on a call just an hour ago.
What excites you most about working in telecoms?
The variety. The sector is constantly evolving, and so is healthcare. My team does a lot of exciting work and seeing the impact, particularly on staff, is incredible. Sure, not all of the feedback we receive is positive but taking that feedback on board is how we evolve.
What would you like people to know about your work?
The breadth of the different roles in the NHS. For almost every trade, there is an equivalent role, including engineers and electricians. I don’t think we shout about this enough…
Why is a vibrant, flourishing telecoms ecosystem important for the UK?
Healthcare would be in a pickle without telecoms. We wouldn’t be able to keep patients in the hospital. We wouldn’t be able to keep patients at home. We wouldn’t be able to respond to emergencies. Communication is key, and it is dependent on the UK’s telecoms ecosystem.
