Case studies: Suffolk Primary Care Trust

VoIP over N3 improves Suffolk healthcare and frees up funds

“The combination of Cisco technology supported by Cisilion’s SMART Service portfolio means that we can be utterly confident in our new infrastructure. It will support our needs for today and provide a solid platform for future patient service delivery enhancements.”

Nick Rackham - Technical Programme Manage

The customer

Suffolk Primary Care Trust came into being on 1 October 2006 through a merger of four smaller primary care trusts. It now comprises some 6,500 healthcare professionals, at over 200 sites, providing health care services for 600,000 local people.

The Trust’s communications infrastructure is managed by Suffolk Support Services who provide information and communications technology services to the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the Suffolk Primary Care Trust.

The challenge

• Improve patient access to services
• Enable mobile working for staff
• Reduce operating costs
• Provide secure, reliable communications in a critical environment

In line with the national imperatives for the NHS, the objective for the Trust’s voice and data communications upgrade was to improve functionality and most importantly, drive down operating costs. As the network would also include the Rushbrook Silver Command Centre (response centre for major incidents), resilience was also high on the agenda.

At its simplest this was an upgrade of a fragmented, multi vendor, voice and data network. However, in an environment where communication is truly a life or death issue, it was vital the solution delivered the required functionality without missing a beat. Completion of the programme to time and budget was also important to underpin the ultimate objective of improving patient care.

The solution

There were three stages to this programme:

1. Upgrade the existing network infrastructure
2. Migrate the voice infrastructure from analogue to IP (Cisco call manager)
3. Secure integration of voice and data for all the trust’s locations

Using the N3 network imposes strict security obligations, so a comprehensive risk assessment was undertaken and the necessary changes implemented. An assessment of bandwidth needs, including the potential impact of building consolidation and the increase in mobile/home working, was also carried out to allow the trust to plan their N3 bandwidth requirements.

With the changes affecting so many staff and the overwhelming imperative to maintain patient services, project and risk management were key to success.Nick Rackham commented

“It was important not to have to manage a multitude of suppliers and technologies. Cisco’s technology, best of breed but affordable, combined with Cisilion’s design, integration and support services created a trusted solution with one point of contact for any issues or changes.”

Cisilion’s innovative approach to resourcing projects (SMART Resourcing) enabled the Trust to create and manage a virtual team spanning the two organisations through an online portal – SMART Portal. This meant that the project could be appropriately resourced to meet peaks in demand or staff absence without carrying expensive overheads throughout the project. Additionally, all related documentation was maintained online ensuring immediate access for all parties. Nick Rackham continues

“Cisilion’s SMART Services portal has been a key enabler for us to implement ITIL processes and ensured first class document management and communication throughout the programme. Indeed, we are now using Cisilion’s SMART services as a highly flexible, addition to our in-house IM&T team.”

The benefits

• Communications aligned to the model of cares
• Faster patient access to staff and services
• Operating cost reduction targets met
• Resilient communications, underpinned with a disaster recovery plan

The biggest functional benefit for the Trust is the ability for staff to have a single, transportable phone number. This means that, regardless of location across the Trusts facilities, staff can be reached through one contact number by both staff and patients, ensuring that services are available closer to the point of need.

Cost reduction was also a critical objective. Whilst it is still early days, it is clear that the reductions in both direct and indirect costs will deliver revenue savings that will make a significant contribution. Additionally, comprehensive management information from the systems is enabling planning to be carried out on the basis of accurate data.