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 voorziet straalverbinding

If Loyal ICT partner of AZ Turnhout werd VanRoey ingeschakeld om mee naar een oplossing te zoeken. Omdat het herstellen van de glasvezelkabel op korte termijn onmogelijk bleek, werd er een tijdelijke straalverbinding tussen beide campussen van het ziekenhuis geïnstalleerd. “In minder dan 24u na het eerste contact, slaagde we er in om enerzijds de nodige hardware te voorzien en anderzijds een volledig werkende installatie op te leveren. Een prachtig staaltje teamwork!” vertelt Roel Van Looy, Solutions & Projects Director bij VanRoey.

"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.