How the Pro11 Headset System supports coordinated care at The Cromwell Hospital in London
The Cromwell Hospital, one of the UK’s leading private hospitals, is recognised for its advanced cardiac services and specialist clinical facilities. Within its Cath and EP labs, multidisciplinary teams rely on Quail Digital's Pro11 Wireless Headset System to maintain continuous, hands-free communication between clinicians inside the lab and colleagues working in control rooms or adjacent areas.
Sune de Toit, Cardiology Manager, explains that the system plays an important role in maintaining a sterile environment, whilst ensuring the whole team stays connected during procedures.
"In EP cases the consultant is often standing with their back towards the physiologist in the control room, so you can’t make eye contact at all. You’re very reliant on these earpieces for communication.
The consultant can communicate clearly with the control room and the rest of the team, and there’s no need to raise your voice — you can just speak normally, which creates a much calmer environment in the lab."
Challenges
- Physiologists and clinicians positioned across different rooms or facing away from each other
- Raising voices during procedures can disrupt colleagues and increase patient anxiety
- Risk of cross-contamination when staff move between clean and procedural areas
Benefits
- Allows even the quietest instructions to be heard clearly
- Supports infection control by reducing unnecessary movement between rooms
- Helps maintain sterile environments during procedures
- Designed for demanding clinical environments
Challenges
In busy cardiac labs, clinicians and physiologists are often positioned in separate rooms or facing away from each other during procedures. This can make clear communication difficult at critical moments, particularly when instructions are spoken quietly or when direct line of sight is not possible.
Without reliable communication tools, teams may need to raise their voices across the room or move between areas to relay instructions, which can interupt workflow and increase the risk of contamination between clean and procedural zones.
Sune explains how the headset system helps prevent this:
"You stop this cross infection of people leaving the lab, coming back in and opening things, because you can constantly communicate.
Even when consultants talk very softly, the team can still hear clearly. You can't always physically see into a lab either, so that's where these headsets are super handy."
The Pro11 Headset System enables instant, clear communication between the lab and control room, helping teams maintain focus during procedures while reducing unnecessary movement between sterile and non-sterile areas.
Benefits
Supporting Clear Communication During Complex Procedures
Cardiac procedures rely on highly coordinated teamwork. While the physician focuses on the patient, other members of the clinical team may be monitoring imaging, analysing data, or operating equipment from control rooms or adjacent spaces.
In these situations, communication must be immediate, precise and dependable.
Traditional methods – such as raising voices across the lab – can be disruptive and may increase patient anxiety.
The Pro11 Headset System provides a direct communication channel between team members, allowing instructions and confirmations to be shared instantly without interrupting others in the room. This supports a calmer, quieter, more controlled clinical environment, particularly during complex or lengthy procedures.
Supporting Infection Control and Workflow Efficiency
The headset system also plays an important role in supporting infection control practices within the lab environment.
When teams can communicate instantly between rooms, staff outside the lab can prepare and pass equipment without unnecessary movement in and out of sterile areas.
This helps reduce disruption to procedures while supporting hospital protocols designed to minimise contamination risk.
Designed for High-Performance Clinical Environments
The Pro11 Headset System from Quail Digital was developed to help clinical teams work more collaboratively, efficiently and safely during procedures.
“Especially during ablations we want to hear directly from the physiologist, because sometimes the consultant talks so softly.
If instructions like ‘stop pacing’ or ‘start pacing’ aren’t heard clearly there can be delays, which could compromise patient safety.
That’s where these headsets are super handy.”
At The Cromwell Hospital, the technology has become a natural part of the cath lab workflow, supporting clinical teams delivering safe, efficient and high-quality patient care.
Ultimately, technologies such as the Pro11 Headset System are not about changing how clinicians work, but about removing communication barriers that can interrupt the flow of a procedure. When communication becomes effortless, teams can focus fully on the patient.
