Workers hit fibre optic cable
The fibre-optic cable damaged by workers on Tuesday is a key link between St Joseph and St Elizabeth campuses. Due to this damage, the main online programmes the hospital works with were either not working or very slow. Doctors were still able to provide care but had limited access to patient records.
From the point of view of quality and safe care, the management of AZ Turnhout decided to postpone non-urgent care. Some 1,500 patients had to be notified that their scheduled appointment could not go ahead. The hospital's urgent care services were able to continue working completely normally and safely thanks to back-up systems.
VanRoey.be provides jet link
If Loyal ICT partner of AZ Turnhout VanRoey.be was called in to help find a solution. As repairing the fibre-optic cable proved impossible in the short term, a temporary radio link was installed between the hospital's two campuses. "In less than 24h after initial contact, we managed to provide the necessary hardware on the one hand and deliver a fully working installation on the other. A great piece of teamwork!" says Roel Van Looy, Solutions & Projects Director at VanRoey.be.
"Many people don't know that such a thing is possible. What is unique with such a radio link is a capacity of 10Gbit. A speed more than sufficient for the hospital's current needs and more powerful than the current backup line provided by another ICT partner."
All scheduled appointments and admissions can be made from today (Thursday 6 October) resume. Workers, meanwhile, are drilling to make the fibre-optic cable operational again from Friday.
