Cynthia Spencer case study

Industry: Charity

Solution: Ultrafast FTTP connectivity

Location: Northampton

Our customer

The Northampton based hospice Cynthia Spencer, provide palliative care services to patients. Their focus is on providing quality of life and respecting the uniqueness of each person.

Background

As with all hospices there is a cost to run it, and at £2.4 million, they rely on the local companies and individuals to support them. dbfb formed a relationship with Cynthia Spencer following our Co-Founder and Finance Director Bill Oliver passing away in the hospice in 2016. We pledged an initial donation of £5000 for the first 50 connections of CityFibre and then £50 per connection thereafter. We also provided the hospice with CityFibre connectivity free of charge from 2016 – 2021. The hospice still uses the CityFibre Ethernet connection today.

Challenge

With running costs at £2.4 million, Cynthia Spencer needed to be able to continue running at the pace required to support those in their care. The quality of life of patients is of upmost importance, and keeping patients connected to loved ones while they are in the hospice is crucial. Cynthia Spencer needed a reliable and strong connection to keep patients communicating and to decrease any stress to the patients, without putting additional financial pressure on the hospice. Not only is the connection important to keep patients connected via calling and messaging platforms such as Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp etc. but it supports the TV screens that patients have next to their beds to power such things as Netflix and other apps – another channel to help patients feel connected and comfortable.

Solution

In 2016, Northampton became a gigabit city and CityFibre joined forces with dbfb to bring ultra-fast
connectivity to businesses in Northampton. Due to the background of dbfb’s relationship with Cynthia Spencer Hospice, following the passing of our co-founder and Finance Director Bill Oliver in the hospice – we pledged a donation of £50 per CityFibre connection bought from dbfb. Additionally, to keep patients connected, we donated a CityFibre Ethernet line into the hospice free of charge and continued to do so until 2021. This line had speeds up to 1Gbps, a strong enough connection to keep patients communicating without disruption but also connected in other ways through the likes of streaming services online.

Key benefits

Faster and more reliable connection allows better quality communication, with less disruption. 

    Cost-effective, with savings of over £30,000

   Reduced stress for patients keeping in touch

Results

The main result has been enabling patients to continually communicate and connect with loved ones when they need to most, via strong connectivity. This became even more crucial throughout the pandemic when face-to-face contact wasn’t possible, and everyone was using the internet to communicate with each other.

“The line enabled FaceTime calls during the pandemic; providing safe communication between patients and relatives, at a time when life was so restricted.

Sarah Bolland, Matron – Cynthia Spencer Hospice Inpatient Unit

Reliability was key to ensure minimal disruption for patients at an extremely distressing time. dbfb continues to support Cynthia Spencer with a subsidised renewal of Ethernet connectivity. The hospice has seen savings of approximately £30,000.