Carmarthenshire NHS Trust is set to invest over £80,000 in a new system to better track and manage its IT hardware and software, to improve helpdesk services and audits of IT resources.
The trust will install UK public sector software specialists, Real Asset Management’s (RAM) Series4000, a suite of fixed asset software modules. The new software replaces a spreadsheet system.
The deal will help the trust consolidate its asset register, resulting in standardised asset records and consistency in reporting across the Estates, Finance and IT departments.
It will allow employees to easily manage all maintenance and work orders that are raised against specific assets through a single process.
A spokesperson from the trust’s IT department said it would help storing and linking data much easier for the trust.
“As well as allowing us to keep detailed and accurate records of all IT equipment and software licences, the IT helpdesk module in Series4000 will also be crucial to the trust.
“Now when we take calls, we can link the enquiry directly to specific pieces of hardware which means we can track trends or issues more easily, enabling us to achieve a greater rate of first time fixes.”
RAM says it already works with 140 NHS Trusts and Carmarthenshire were impressed with the progress it had been making in Wales in particular. They felt that their old use of spreadsheets to keep data was outdated and Series4000 met their requirements and would help them speed up patient care for its 170,000 patients.
Richard Shaw, account manager for the project at RAM told E-Health Insider: “Carmarthenshire used to be two different trusts with separate databases for support. Since then, they have merged together, and were left with two separate sorts of software. They needed a modern system to provide a collaborative system, which was fully integrated.
“Series4000 was perfect for this purpose and we have been working with the trust since the end of June to help them get the system implemented for 50 people to access and share data. The trust can enjoy the benefits of the software like our other NHS clients have, in terms of producing reports and verifying finance during audits.”
Series4000 complies with the requirements of the NHS Capital Accounting Manuals and will help the trust to process and forecast capital charges.
A spokesperson from Camarthanshire’s estates department said: “Series4000 from RAM allows us to manage capital charging across the trust whilst keeping asset information across the trust standardised.”