The new annexe cost £7.6 million. The ground floor is home to a fracture and orthopaedic clinic with its own dedicated X-ray suite which will treat up to 30,000 patients in a year. The two upper floors contain a staff education centre and high-tech training facility - one of the most advanced in the UK. A central control viewing room is linked by video and microphones to the hands-on area, which can be set up as either a fully equipped Hospital Ward or a realistic Operating Theatre.
Remotely controlled zoom and pan camera feeds are recorded straight on to a hard drive. The operator can view the procedures independently or globally. On the audio side a combination of beyerdynamic MPC23 button microphones are set into the ceiling, with beyer Opus 350 tie-clip radio microphones being used by the nurses, doctors and consultants. The choice of microphones and their positioning allows the operator to select from a single consultant recording through to a fully working theatre. These are all mixed into a Biamp Nexia-CS DSP unit for equalisation, processing and routing for playback through Bittner amplifiers.
The distributor's expert advice was much appreciated. "beyerdynamic's initial help in specifying a flexible system solution was crucial and invaluable in helping to win the contract," commented Colin Broadfoot from Saville Audio Visual. "We believe this installation will provide an excellent blueprint for similar projects in the future."
(Lee Baldock)
