Specialist NHS body improves patient services with virtual office infrastructure and software audit

Customer challenge

The East of England Specialised Commissioning Group (SCG) is responsible for delivering high-cost, low-volume healthcare services to 5.5 million people. It works with 14 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which involves attending meetings throughout the region. With staff spending significant amounts of time travelling and working at different locations, the organisation needs centralised access to critical patient information.

Computacenter solution

The SCG partnered with Computacenter to help design a 'virtual office' environment. Based on Microsoft SharePoint, the platform will provide a reliable and flexible foundation for collaboration, and enable the team to share documents regardless of their location. Computacenter also helped the East of England SCG demonstrate compliance with their Microsoft licensing position by completing a licence health check.

Results

The SCG is now able to take advantage of the NHS's Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft, which includes SharePoint and other software solutions. As a result, the group can simplify ongoing IT management and enhance security, which will be key to its virtual office ambitions. Once operational, the new virtual office will enable the SCG to reduce its costs and carbon footprint while increasing productivity and the quality of patient care.

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Customer profile

Delivering specialist health services
The East of England SCG is responsible for commissioning a wide range of specialist healthcare services for 14 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and a population of 5.5 million.

The organisation was formed in 2006 – along with several other NHS SCGs – following the publication of the Carter Report. This report identified that certain healthcare services that are highly specialised, expensive and rarely called upon are more effectively delivered on a wider regional basis.

By consolidating the delivery of these services, the NHS can ensure that its experts treat a critical volume of patients in order to retain their skills in rare healthcare services, for example medical genetics and bone marrow transplants.

Business challenge

Providing flexible access to critical information
The group's team of 23 senior directors liaise with hospitals and PCTs throughout the East of England, from Dartford to Hunstanton. Due to the nature of the organisation, good communication between PCTs and the SCG team is critical to ensure patients have access to high quality healthcare services.

Peter Manser, Head of Information Management and Technology at the East of England SCG, comments: "A solid foundation for communication is critical for efficiently managing the delivery of patient care. This requires the two-way exchange of sensitive and important medical information between healthcare providers and SCG staff."

At the moment, much of this interaction takes place face-to-face, which means that the SCG's small team spends long periods travelling to meetings at PCT sites throughout the region. With the group based at three locations in Eastern England, its staff are rarely in a centralised office environment.

This has significant implications for sharing data. The organisation currently has no unified document services, which means that files have to be shared via email. This can impact the efficiency of the group, as Peter explains: "It is critical that our staff are able to access the right information at the right time – regardless of whether they are at our offices or onsite at hospitals."

Computacenter solution

A virtual office and technology health check
To provide its staff with flexible access to healthcare information, the East of England SCG enlisted the help of IT services provider Computacenter to design a 'virtual office'. Based on Microsoft SharePoint technology, the solution includes an HP data warehousing server, an application server, Dell laptops and wireless broadband modems from T-Mobile. In addition to designing the solution, Computacenter was also responsible for sourcing the hardware.

Due to the nationwide software contract between the NHS and Microsoft, the SCG was able to deploy SharePoint without the need to invest in its own licences – on the condition that it could demonstrate governance with the NHS Infrastructure Maturity Model (NIMM). As Peter explains: "Before we were granted permission to use the Microsoft application we had to prove our technology credentials to the Strategic Health Authority."

To conduct this NIMM audit – or technology health check – the SCG once again turned to Computacenter. By using a specialised audit application, Computacenter identified the software being used by the group. This exercise was coupled with a comprehensive review of security, compliance and technical efficiency.

Due to the nature of the East of England SCG, the audit created a number of challenges. "We are not a standard NHS healthcare provider – we are a management organisation of 23 high-level directors, which means we have a different approach to IT management to a hospital with 1,000 employees," comments Peter. With help from Computacenter the SCG was able to overcome these issues, and demonstrated the competence needed pass the audit.

Results

Boosting efficiency to ensure a higher level of patient care
As a result of the health check service, the SCG has been able to improve IT governance and qualifies for access to a range of Microsoft solutions, including SharePoint for its virtual office ambitions. "We now have a greater understanding of our software estate and are able to take advantage of the latest software releases," adds Peter. This also means that the organisation's IT is easier to manage and more secure.

Once the new virtual office goes live in autumn 2008, the East of England SCG will be able to:

Improve staff productivity: In addition to the benefits associated with more up-to-date software, the virtual office environment will have a massive impact on the efficiency of the SCG team and will help to prevent the duplication of effort associated with multiple document filing systems.

Reduce travel: The ability to access information from any location will minimise the need for travel. This will not only save time and money but also help reduce the group's environmental impact in line with the NHS carbon-busting programme.

Create a communications platform for the future: The single virtual office platform will form the foundation for future technologies and will eventually encompass all communications including tools for collaborative working, instant messaging, email, SMS, fax and even video-conferencing. All of which will help the East of England SCG provide a better level of service to PCTs and patients.

As Peter confirms: "By participating in the Microsoft licence health check process and bringing our systems up to date, we will be able to improve quality of service. This means that patients throughout the region will have access to the specialist care they need."