Our partners
Overview
When vital mobile connectivity was disrupted at St. Ann’s Hospital in Haringey, North London, the impact was immediate. The hospital hosts critical crisis care services, including NHS 111 option 2, a police advice line, and 24/7 mental health support for communities across five London boroughs.
Working in close partnership with Vodafone and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, Cornerstone responded rapidly to deliver a bespoke, temporary mobile mast solution, ensuring vital services could continue without interruption.
The challenge
St. Ann’s Hospital is home to the NHS Trust’s Crisis Hub, a frontline service supporting patients in urgent need of mental health care. The team handles hundreds of calls every day, from patients in crisis, police on the ground, and health professionals across the region.
But when a mobile signal issue caused by a nearby site decommissioning impacted connectivity at the hospital, immediate action was needed to restore reliable coverage.
Karen Mawson, Operational Manager at Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, explains:
“Connectivity is hugely important to us. Our patients ring us in crisis every day, and we need to be there to support them in an instant. We cannot afford for our service to drop. Speed and reliability are everything.”
Our response
Vodafone, as the mobile service provider, flagged the issue to Cornerstone. Thanks to long-standing industry relationships, a rapid triage and mobilisation was possible.
Helen Main, Head of Delivery at Cornerstone, recalls:
“I was approached by James Mariano, Head of Radio Planning at Vodafone. He explained the impact the coverage issue was having on their corporate client, St. Ann’s. We responded immediately, first scoping a temporary solution and engaging the hospital’s estates team that same day.”
Cornerstone deployed a Multi Skilled Visit (MSV) to the site, collaborating with both Vodafone and the Trust’s technical lead, Tosif Majid. Together, the teams identified a viable location within the hospital car park for a temporary mobile mast.
Our collaborative solution
A temporary mast solution was installed in record time, providing reliable Vodafone 4G coverage back to the site. The process included close coordination with the hospital to ensure patient safety, security, and minimal operational disruption.
Tosif Majid, Technical Lead at North London NHS Foundation Trust St. Ann’s Hospital, said:
“Cornerstone and Vodafone made the whole process seamless for us. As a Trust, we’re all about patient safety, and connectivity plays a critical role in that. The collaboration meant we could deploy quickly and get back to focusing on care.”
Christine Hazzard, Service Relationship Manager at Vodafone, added:
“This was the fastest temporary solution deployment I’ve seen in all my time in the business. Everyone pulled together to get the result, and that meant our NHS customer could keep doing their vital work.”
The result
Reliable connectivity was restored. St. Ann’s Hospital was able to maintain full operational capability and continue supporting patients, the police, and health professionals without interruption.
Karen Mawson sums it up:
“We cover such a wide range of patient care, from children to older adults, from the street to the community. Connectivity is key.”
Why it matters
This project demonstrates the critical role mobile connectivity plays in modern healthcare, and the power of effective collaboration between telecoms providers, infrastructure experts, and frontline services.
At Cornerstone, we’re proud to partner with organisations like Vodafone and the NHS to deliver infrastructure that supports life-saving services across the UK.
Explore more about how Cornerstone powers connectivity for the UK’s essential services.
Our services
- Temporary mast deployment
- Rapid response connectivity solution
- Collaborative site planning with NHS and Vodafone
- Ground investigation and site preparation
- Cross-stakeholder project coordination
- End-to-end project management for emergency infrastructure
- Customer engagement and weekly stakeholder updates
- Health-critical mobile coverage restoration