The UK healthcare sector is facing a major infrastructure challenge with the withdrawal of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). For hospitals, NHS trusts and healthcare estates, this transition goes far beyond a simple change in telecommunications. It directly affects patient safety, regulatory compliance and the resilience of critical services such as lift emergency communications.
Many healthcare facilities still rely on analogue lines to support lift autodiallers and emergency systems. As these lines are withdrawn, organisations must act decisively to ensure that vulnerable patients, staff and visitors are never placed at risk.
Why Healthcare Estates Are Uniquely Exposed
Healthcare environments place exceptional demands on lift infrastructure. Hospitals and healthcare campuses typically operate a high number of lifts, many of which are essential for patient transport, bed movement, clinical logistics and emergency response.
Unlike commercial buildings, lifts in healthcare settings are frequently used by patients with reduced mobility, those under sedation, or individuals requiring urgent clinical care. Any failure in lift emergency communication is therefore a serious safety concern.
Compounding this risk, many healthcare estates feature:
- A mix of modern and legacy lift equipment, some dating back several decades
- Analogue emergency autodiallers dependent on PSTN connectivity
- Complex call handling arrangements involving internal switchboards, lift contractors and Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs)
- Increasing financial pressure on estates and facilities teams
Regulatory Compliance Cannot Be an Afterthought
Healthcare organisations must comply with strict regulatory frameworks governing lift safety and emergency communication. These include BS EN 81-28 and Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 08-02: Lifts, which set clear expectations for reliable, permanently available two-way communication from within lifts.
The PSTN switch-off introduces a real risk of non-compliance if analogue lines are removed or replaced without appropriate digital or cellular alternatives. In a healthcare context, non-compliance is not just a technical issue, it can lead to regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage and, most importantly, compromised patient safety.
What the PSTN Switch-Off Means for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers
As telecom providers migrate services to all-digital networks, analogue lines may be withdrawn, migrated or reconfigured with little notice at site level. Lift emergency communication systems that are not actively monitored may fail silently.
Healthcare providers must therefore:
- Audit all lift emergency communication systems, including low-usage or back-of-house lifts
- Identify reliance on analogue PSTN lines and legacy signalling
- Ensure replacement solutions meet healthcare-specific compliance and resilience requirements
Failing to address these issues proactively can result in unplanned lift downtime, safety risks and costly reactive upgrades.
Why Unmanaged GSM Solutions Are a Risk in Healthcare
In response to rising analogue line costs, in some cases increasing by up to 300%, some organisations turn to low-cost GSM replacements. However, unmanaged or consumer-grade solutions are rarely suitable for healthcare environments.
Common shortcomings include:
- Lack of continuous monitoring or fault reporting
- Insufficient battery backup during power outages
- No visibility of SIM or network status
- Limited support for compliance testing under BS EN 81-28
In a hospital environment, these weaknesses can leave estates teams unaware of failures until an emergency occurs, an unacceptable risk where patient safety is concerned.
Preparing for the Switchover: A Structured, Managed Approach
Healthcare estates teams should take a structured approach to the PSTN transition by:
- Conducting comprehensive audits of all connected lift and emergency systems
- Mapping call routing and escalation paths across switchboards, lift companies and ARCs
- Engaging specialist providers who understand healthcare compliance requirements
- Planning phased upgrades rather than last-minute reactive changes
A managed approach reduces risk, controls cost and ensures continuity of critical services.
How MEMCO by AVIRE’s SENTINEL Supports Healthcare Organisations
SENTINEL is a fully managed lift emergency communication and connectivity service designed to meet the specific demands of healthcare estates.
SENTINEL provides:
- Proactively managed cellular connectivity suitable for mission-critical lift environments
- 24/7 monitoring of connectivity, battery status and system health
- Support for compliance with BS EN 81-28 and alignment with HTM 08-02 expectations
- Regular testing, reporting and audit trails to support inspections and governance
- Future-proof 4G connectivity, helping healthcare organisations avoid further disruptive transitions
By providing constant oversight, SENTINEL enables healthcare providers to move away from reactive fault management towards a proactive, safety-first model.
Overcoming Healthcare Infrastructure Constraints
Many hospitals face additional challenges such as fibre connectivity stopping at the site perimeter, leaving internal buildings responsible for costly rewiring. SENTINEL-enabled cellular solutions can help overcome these limitations, particularly for lift emergency communications, without extensive internal cabling works.
This flexibility is especially valuable across large hospital campuses, mental health facilities and community healthcare estates.
Turning a Regulatory Challenge into a Safety Opportunity
The PSTN switch-off is an unavoidable change, but it does not have to be a risk. With the right managed service in place, healthcare organisations can strengthen compliance, improve system visibility and enhance resilience across their lift infrastructure.
In an environment where patient safety is paramount and systems must perform without fail, SENTINEL provides healthcare estates teams with the confidence that lift emergency communications are monitored, compliant and ready for the future.
To learn more about how MEMCO by AVIRE’s SENTINEL solution supports healthcare estates through the PSTN transition, speak to our team.
