Every page confirmed. Every failure noticed.
Most nurse call to phone links send a message and assume it arrived. When the messaging server restarts or a connection quietly drops, pages stop, and nobody finds out until a nurse misses a call. Paging Link is built so that cannot happen silently.
- Confirmed delivery. Every page must be acknowledged by the messaging platform. A refused or unanswered page is resent, and a page that still is not accepted raises a fault. Live
- Heartbeat supervision. A heartbeat page to its own pager ID, separate from clinical pagers, proves the whole path end to end every minute. If it fails, the fault shows within seconds. Live
- Calls never wait. Paging runs in its own queue, in order, so a slow or unreachable messaging platform never delays calls on the ward. Live
- Routing by call type and location. Each call type can go to its own pager or group today. Routing by ward and bed to different staff groups is being added. In development
Connects without changing what is certified
Paging Link connects to the existing ward controller through a Ward Gateway board that listens to the controller without changing it. The certified call path, the call points, the corridor lights and the controller's own displays are untouched. If Paging Link is switched off, the nurse call system carries on exactly as before. In development
More than nurse calls
A hospital's urgent alarms don't all come from the nurse call system. Paging Link runs on the Southerly gateway, which already connects to the hospital's other systems:
- Fire and plant alarms from alarm panels over Contact ID or SIA DC-09, or as dry contacts through an Edge Node, for example fire pump running, sprinkler flow or plant-room faults. This is secondary notification to the right staff. It does not replace the fire indicator panel or the brigade alarm. Inputs live
- Building management: a read-only BACnet feed of call and fault status to the hospital's BMS. Live
- Security and access control events from Inner Range. Inputs live
- Paging these alarms to staff phones, with the same confirmed delivery as nurse calls. In development
It is also the first step of a staged migration: reliable paging and reporting first, then the head end and rooms as budget allows.
What is in the box
- A DIN-rail industrial computer running the Southerly Enterprise Gateway software.
- Power-loss protection that shuts it down cleanly and brings it back by itself.
- Its own 4G connection for remote support, separate from the hospital network.
- The monthly Uptime Report, so engineering has evidence for SLA meetings.
Honest status
What is proven, and what is next
Confirmed delivery, retries, the heartbeat and fault reporting are running in the Southerly gateway software today and have been tested against TAP paging terminals, including faults on purpose: refused pages, no answer, hang-ups and a platform that is down. The first hospital trial with Ascom is next. We will list it as Live once that trial has run.
Why it matters: the paging outage nobody was told about, a case study.
Try it on one ward
A 30-day pilot on one ward or one controller: Paging Link runs alongside your existing paging on a test pager group, so you can compare it call for call before anything changes. Delivered through your accredited partner.
Questions we get asked
What does "confirmed delivery" mean?
After every page, Paging Link waits for the messaging platform to acknowledge it, using the acknowledgement built into the TAP protocol. A page that is refused or not answered is resent. If it still is not accepted, Paging Link raises a fault straight away, instead of assuming the page arrived.
Why not just use the nurse call system's own output?
Many nurse call outputs send a message and assume it arrived. When the messaging server restarts or a connection quietly drops, pages stop and nobody is told until a nurse misses a call. Paging Link checks every page, supervises the link with a heartbeat, and makes a silent failure visible.
Does it change our nurse call system?
No. It connects to the existing ward controller without changing the controller or the certified call path. It reads the calls and pages them out. If Paging Link is switched off, the nurse call system carries on exactly as before.
How do you integrate a nurse call system with Ascom?
Ascom messaging platforms take nurse call input over TAP. Paging Link connects to the existing nurse call system, turns each call into a TAP page for the right pager or group, and confirms Ascom accepted it. Ascom sets up a TAP input and the pager IDs; nothing on the handsets changes.
Which messaging platforms does it work with?
Anything that accepts TAP (Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol) pages, which is how Ascom and most clinical messaging platforms take nurse call input. Ascom is the first platform in field trial. We list a platform as supported once it has been tested on site.
What happens if the messaging platform restarts?
Paging Link opens a fresh session for every page, so it never gets stuck on a dead connection. Pages raised while the platform is down are retried, the fault shows while it is down, and it clears by itself on the next accepted page.
How is it supported?
Each Paging Link has its own 4G connection for remote support, separate from the hospital network, and is monitored by Southerly and the installing partner. The monthly service covers monitoring, software updates and support.
Specifications
| Function | Pages nurse calls to staff phones and confirms every page was accepted |
|---|---|
| Output | TAP (Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol) over TCP/IP: Ascom and other TAP-capable messaging platforms |
| Delivery check | TAP acknowledgement required; resend on refusal or no answer; retries; fault if not accepted |
| Supervision | Heartbeat page to a dedicated pager ID; fault within seconds; clears automatically |
| Nurse call input | Existing ward controller via Ward Gateway WG-01 (listen-only, in development) |
| Other inputs | Fire and plant alarm panels (Contact ID / SIA DC-09, dry contact via Edge Node), Inner Range security; BACnet feed to the BMS |
| Hardware | DIN-rail industrial computer, power-loss protection, 4G for remote support |
| Reporting | Monthly Uptime Report (PDF/CSV) |
| Commercials | One price per site plus a monthly monitoring and support service; 30-day pilot |
| Standard | Designed to AS 3811:2026 |
| Status | In development: software running, first hospital trial next |