North East London Mental Health Trust

Joined up working for improved patient care

When the North East London Mental Health Trust (NELMHT) was first formed 5 years ago it inherited numerous service contracts with several different communications providers across 32 sites.  But its poorly integrated infrastructure was proving expensive and – most importantly – wasn’t delivering the level of service required for a modern healthcare trust.

Our team helped NELMHT find the ideal solution, implementing a high capacity data and voice communications network that is helping the Trust to increase efficiency, improve service quality – and save costs.

Connecting staff, improving efficiency

Covering 4 London boroughs, NELMHT provides a wide range of services for approximately one million patients. The Trust’s 1,800 employees are spread over a wide geographical area, often working at sites that were previously part of other healthcare trusts. Our communications network is helping to keep clinical and operational staff connected and access the information they need to provide the highest quality care to their patients.

Best-value solution

The Trust knew it needed a strong partner to help it disengage from three existing communications suppliers and put in place a single, cohesive data and voice network. Following a tender process, it chose ntl:Telewest Business.

As Peter Gooch, CRS Project Director at NELMHT explains, the Trust was impressed with the expertise on offer: "We’ve had quite a few staff changes in recent years so it was helpful that the ntl:Telewest Business team had such an in-depth knowledge of local healthcare communications networks," he says. "They provided a lot of advice, and were very open and professional."

However, cost was also an important consideration. "The ntl:Telewest Business team was not only extremely capable, but also offered the most cost-effective solution," says Peter. "Quite simply, it was the best-value option."

Keeping operations up and running

Timescales for the implementation were tight – but all project deadlines were achieved, thanks to our team’s close working relationship with NELMHT staff. "All of the background work made for a very smooth switchover," confirms Peter. "ntl:Telewest Business was a very important partner and delivered the goods!"

As well as completing the project on time, it was also critical that day-to-day business was affected as little as possible. "A lot of our users were completely unaware of the implementation," remarks Peter. "Disruption to our operational and clinical services was minimal and, if staff noticed any change at all, it was that connection speeds suddenly became a lot faster."

Transforming patient care

For the first time, the Trust is now able to connect all of its sites to one corporate network. One of the most important benefits of this is that all staff can now access a centralised care records system. This enables them to access information – such as the availability of outpatient appointments or specific patient treatment details – quickly and easily.

"Previously, low bandwidth meant that personnel in many of our locations either couldn’t open the system, or had to wait a long time for information to load," says Peter. "By giving all of our staff near-instant access to patient records, we’ve been able to optimise both the delivery and quality of the care we offer. It’s transformed the way that our operational and clinical teams work."

The ntl:Telewest Business communications infrastructure also supports voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology, enabling telephone calls to be carried over the network. "Because we’re now on a single system, we can get more favourable, high-volume tariffs for external calls," comments Peter. "And there is now no charge for internal calls, saving us a lot of money each year."

What it has made possible

NELMHT has already installed a centralised call centre, further enhancing its operational efficiency. It also plans to continue leveraging its investment by implementing other technologies, supported by the ntl:Telewest Business network. Electronic prescriptions are to be introduced shortly, with links to other trusts also a possibility.

Peter believes that the network is a critical component of the Trust’s care delivery system – and will continue to play a key role. "We deliberately procured a very scalable system so that it can grow or contract with us," he concludes. "Now, we have an excellent infrastructure to build on in future."