The recent Storms Brendan, Ciara and Dennis managed to cause chaos up and down the country, with gales of more than 75mph and heavy rainfall hitting the UK, leading to widespread flooding and affecting travel and power across the country.
Numerous counties across the nation also saw thousands of properties lose power as the high winds downed trees and power lines; during Storm Brendan, in Wales, more than 2,000 properties were left without power, while Cornwall, Hampshire, Norfolk and parts of Scotland all suffered the same fate.
Climate change looks set to make these sort of extreme weather events more common, so the likelihood of losing power is going to rise for all of us. For surgeries, who need to be able to communicate with patients and have access their records no matter the circumstances, a loss of power could cause chaos and potentially endanger patients. But how do you avoid losing power when we’re so reliant on the grid?
Consider an Uninterruptible Power Supply
An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is a device that can be designed to provide the right power to your telecommunications equipment when your mains power fails. It differs from an emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide near-instantaneous protection from interruptions to the power, by supplying energy stored in batteries.
A UPS unit is specifically designed to protect hardware where an unexpected disruption such as a downed power line could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption or data loss. They range in size, from small ones designed to protect a small phone system for a short time to larger units powering more equipment and larger installations.
Why would we need one?
Recent storms such as Brendan, Ciara and Dennis are prime examples of when you might most need to keep the power on; high winds and stormy conditions could see patients needing help with minor injuries and see an increased number of calls. Having a UPS in place would make sure that not only are your phone system is less likely to drop out, meaning that you can offer the same level of service consistently, without worrying about being let down by fallen power lines.
To find out more about how a UPS could make your surgery more resilient in bad weather conditions, give us a call at Equations on 01237 420010 and find out more.
