Milton Keynes NHS Trust OfficeTalk Case History

Milton Keynes NHS Trust Case History

NHS TRUST OfficeTalk With Workgroup
Officially opened in 1984 by HRH Duchess of Kent, the Milton Keynes General NHS Trust is a 455 bed hospital serving the population of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area. The hospital became a National Health Service Trust in April 1992, and now employs over 1,500 people, providing in-patient and out-patient care to nearly 150,000 patients each year.

IT at the Heart...
In order to increase efficiency, Milton Keynes General NHS Trust uses computerised administration systems extensively. The Computer Support Office provides an invaluable technical support service - ministering to the needs of the many computer users in the hospital. Mark Hull, Micro Computer Support Officer, heads the Computer Room and identified the need for an administrative system that would enable his workgroup to communicate more effectively.

Responding to the Users...
"A significant drain on productivity for the Computer Support Team and our colleagues in the hospital requiring our services was that members of the team were out and about in units and departments resolving users problems." commented Mark Hull. "Consequently, when other computer users contact the Computer Room for technical advice there was often no member of staff available and time was expended in passing messages between departments."

The Computer Support Team decided that an efficient messaging system would be the answer to this situation. In their search for such a system they expanded the criteria to include a desire for a diary function that would allow various members of the department to keep abreast of each others movements.

Under Examination...
A number of packages were considered by Milton Keynes General NHS Trust, including MS Mail and Lotus Notes. After evaluation, the team felt that these systems they did not have the functionality that the Computer Support Team required. On receipt of the evaluation package of Sareen SoftwareÆs OfficeTalk Workgroup Information Manager, the team were immediately impressed with the systemÆs features: "It took me no time at all to see that OfficeTalk was offering the NHS Trust exactly what it required. Installation and familiarisation with the package was simplicity itself, and after two days I was totally up-to-speed with the system and so installed OfficeTalk on the four other PCs in the department."

Cure All...
Training the four other users in the department to use OfficeTalk was not a problem for Mark Hull: "A half day of training for any new user of OfficeTalk is adequate and ensures that they can make full use of all of the systemÆs features." Users in the Computer Support Department have found that the E-Mail function and group diary system are highly beneficial, cutting down on time spent trying to get messages to people and enabling them to know of each otherÆs whereabouts with ease.

Following the success of OfficeTalk since its installation in February 1995 it has been rolled out to a further 40 users within the hospital - bringing the total number of licences to over 80. The reactions of other users in the hospital has been positive. "Many other users within the hospital have taken to OfficeTalk with no trouble at all," commented Mark Hull.

Productivity Gains...
"Many users have told me how useful they find the meeting facility, which allows them to schedule meetings at the touch of a button. The system checks all the diaries within the workgroup and finds a mutually convenient time - alerting each user to the fact that they have an unconfirmed meeting scheduled. Functions such as these can only make for efficiency gains in a large institution, such as Milton Keynes General NHS Trust, where people are spread over a large site."

Testimony to the success of OfficeTalk is that it is hoped to roll out OfficeTalk to every department in the hospital. Mark Hull envisages every single Milton Keynes General NHS Trust PC having the package, a significant increase in the numbers of licences held at present. MarkÆs confidence in this Workgroup Information Manager is demonstrated by the enthusiasm with which he speaks of the central address book which can be shared by all members of the workgroup, and the project management function which is capable of planning and tracking simple and multi-level projects.

Given the high functionality and user friendliness of OfficeTalk the scope for use of this package in organisations such as Milton Keynes General NHS Trust is vast. Now shipping with a free Workgroup Internet Gateway, Intranet communication as well as Internet mail has become a workable and affordable reality thanks to OfficeTalk.

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