Staff from our Health Sector Division introduce the new c-CCMS to management of the Hospital Authority.

We achieved a milestone recently with the implementation of a computerised Central Control and Monitoring System (c-CCMS) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the first of its kind in Asia. From a single central control centre, it facilitates the smooth operations of the engineering systems throughout the entire hospital complex with the efficient and effective monitoring of all plant and equipment.

Using the latest state-of-the-art technology, c-CCMS provides a number of breakthrough features especially in the field of mobile computing. These include effective communications with both the QEH Intranet and Internet through the system's web-based facilities; access to information through the web page via PDAs, notebooks and wireless modems; auto-dialling with messages (Short Message Service) being sent to operators' mobile phones or pagers; dial-up access to the c-CCMS through remote stations and notebooks; as well as integrated digital imaging through CCTV surveillance.

Additional services and benefits provided by the System include:

• Use of the internationally recognised open protocol - BACNet, enabling the connection and integration of different vendor systems.
• Dual redundant servers enhancing system reliability.
• High-speed networking based on the Gigabit Ethernet.
• Distributed Server Architecture (DSA) enhancing communication and increasing system capacity.
• A Video Display Wall which provides a multi-working platform and a better man-machine interface.
• Global energy management for the entire hospital with time scheduling, chillers sequencing and demand side management facilities.

The System is also highly flexible, with the ability to grow and expand with the new digital and mobile computing technologies as they develop. Future facilities can include:

• 3G mobile phone technology - with speeds up to 2Mbps, it will allow digital CCTV image transmission.
• "Bluetooth" (Wireless) communication.
• Faster video image transmission with enhanced video compression (MPEG-4).
• Fully web-based operating system.

c-CCMS Schematic Diagram of QEH project

Discussing the benefits of the System, Dr. K. M. Leung of Health Sector Division, who led the project said: "The new c-CCMS system is a perfect example of the win-win solutions that we aim for in serving our customers. With the System in place we not only achieve higher efficiencies and save costs with the more effective use of manpower, we also provide enhanced services with better fault prevention and reductions in fault response times. QEH and patients benefit from the new technology and vastly improved services. Our use of the latest technology combined with new techniques and innovative applications enhances our activities and improves our services for the benefit of the people of Hong Kong."

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