Cisco and Cisilion Help Improve Healthcare Services and Reduce Costs for Suffolk NHS

Cisco and Cisilion Help Improve Healthcare Services and Reduce Costs for Suffolk NHS

Patients and healthcare staff in Suffolk will be able to communicate more easily and at significantly reduced costs with a Cisco® Unified Communications system being implemented across 200 healthcare locations in Suffolk by Cisilion, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. The solution will be one of the first voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems to be deployed over the NHS N3 network. Part of the National Programme for IT, the network provides the NHS with fast broadband communications services.

The Cisco Unified Communications system is expected to help Suffolk NHS organisations, which serve around 600,000 people, improve healthcare provision by allowing health workers to be more mobile and by bringing services closer to patients. Doctors, community nurses and child health visitors will be accessible via their own direct dial numbers, making it simpler and easier for them to work from any location. Significant cost savings are expected because the Cisco Unified Communications system makes centralised management much easier and will reduce the need for on-site engineer visits. Further cost savings will be gained by reducing the cost of internal calls in Suffolk and with other NHS organisations outside the region via N3, and by replacing the number and types of telephone systems scattered around the region with a single system integrated with the existing data network.

The Cisco Unified Communications system is also being used to manage two virtual call centre services, one for general patient enquiries and the second for Suffolk Support Services’ internal IM&T Service Desk. Both ensure calls are routed to the right destination faster, and resources are managed to meet demand.

The solution is being managed by Suffolk Support Services, which provide information and communications technology services to the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the Suffolk Primary Care Trust.

Nick Rackham, technical programme manager at Suffolk Support Services, said, “A reliable and flexible telephone system such as the Cisco Unified Communications system is crucial to providing an effective healthcare service, especially as Suffolk is making health services more mobile and much more accessible to the community. The beauty of working together with Cisco and Cisilion is having two highly professional organisations to help us provide the community with a reliable and cost-effective communications infrastructure which we can develop as healthcare demands change. They are also working hard to ensure the project continues to run to time and budget.”

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