How Patient Entertainment Systems Encourage Charity Donations

Increasing Charity Exposure

Charities rely on a multi-channel approach. They want to create as many opportunities as possible to connect the general public, staff and patients to their Charity. This is especially important when comes to encouraging donations .The more individuals encounter the charity logo, learn about the charity, and are prompted to 'donate now' or 'get involved', the greater the chance that they will take action and support.

Charity advertisements are strategically placed in high dwell time areas, like hospital waiting rooms, to maximize engagement opportunities. With more time to interact with the ads, individuals are more inclined to take action, whether that be making a donation or signing up for charity news updates.

With 87% of adults owning a smartphone in 2023, it’s safe to say that the majority of people will have their heads stuck in their phone, rather than look at a physical poster or leaflet. This is where digital advertisement is paramount. Not only do SPARK TSL provide digital advertisement on WiFi sign in portals, but they also provide this on their Patient Entertainment System (PES), SPARK® Media.

SPARK TSL have worked with several NHS Charities already to increase exposure and encourage more donations. Learn more about them in out NHS Charities Case Study.

What is a Patient Entertainment System? (PES)

A PES is commonly known as a platform that provides entertainment services for patients. This started with the Hospedia Bedside Units back in 1993. However, PES have come a long way since then and have expanded to cover the inclusion of hospital information and resources, provision of surveys, advertisement opportunities and more.

Patient Entertainment Systems have branched out from physical devices next to patients beds, to an online platform that can be accessed by anyone who logs into the NHS WiFi with their own device. This solution is known as Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD), and supports digital inclusivity alongside the physical Bedside Units. This means that every patient can access a PES.

The main benefit is that they provide a central place where patients can find and access everything they may need to support their healthcare journey.

Unfortunately, the first version of the PES by Hospedia, ran off a patient pays model to fund the initial installation and subsequent running costs and repairs. You can learn more about Hospedia and SPARK TSL’s mission to move away from this model here.

This model is now outdated and unpopular (for obvious reasons), which is why when SPARK TSL developed SPARK® Media, the digital PES, everything on it would be available, for free, to the end user. The common features of this platform include:

• TV
• Radio
• Newspapers and magazines
• Puzzle
• Health education videos
• Dementia support services
• Surveys
• NHS links
• Clinical integration
• Charity messaging, adverts and donation area

How Do You Access The Digital PES?

Users of Hospital WiFi will often be re-directed to SPARK® Media, the digital Patient Entertainment System, after logging in to the free WiFi. It can also be accessed via a URL when you are logged in to the NHS WiFi. The URL for SPARK® Media is wifitv.co.uk.

Details on how to access SPARK® Media and connect to NHS WiFi Provided by SPARK TSL can be found here.

How Can This Help Charities?

PES will be visible and available to everyone using the WiFi. This is significant because the first thing patients/visitors will do when arriving in hospital or Eds, is connect to the internet.

Therefore, including charity branding on the WiFi log in page and on the landing page that connects the user to the PES, increases awareness and subsequently, creates more opportunities for people to donate.

On SPARK® Media, there is a charity banner on every tab which includes a charity logo, donate button and text. There is also a dedicated charity tab that provides more information which can be customised by the charity. The charity banner will be first thing a patient sees when they land on the PES. That’s an automatic increase in reach and audience size. As the content can be customised, you can display different information to support upcoming events which will keep the content fresh and engaging, even for those who have seen your charity branding before.

Charity Statistics from SPARK® Media

In 2022, there were 187,169 clicks on charity content across our SPARK® Media customers. Then in 2023 this rose by 1.9% to 190,679 clicks.

It's Free to Add

The best part about all of this, is that we will add the banner and information for free, on SPARK® Media. The lite version of this PES is provided for free to SPARK® Connect customers. The lite version includes the banner and charity tab customisation. SPARK® Connect also offers complete customisability with branding on the WiFi pages and collecting user data, providing the option for those to sign up to charity news.

Learn about the benefits of NHS Charity Engagement with SPARK TSL in our latest Webinar, 'Maximise Your Donation Channels with SPARK TSL’.