Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has announced that it has completed the implementation of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform from Proximity Communications.
Previously the trust, a specialist in treating patients with mental health and learning disabilities, ran different telephony systems at various sites, which became complex and costly.
Martin Harrison, telecoms project manager at the trust, said it needed a more “resilient” platform that also incorporated a number of applications designed to reduce cost, improve productivity and increase collaboration.
Harrison said: “Staff can now quickly identify who’s working where, maintenance is handled at a central location, and with applications such as auto-attendant, call handling is automated, helping to reduce costs and improve service delivery.”
The contract, which also includes 24/7 maintenance services to support the provision of round-the-clock emergency care, is designed to support Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s long-term transition to a fully converged IP network.
Harrison added: “Over time, we want to extend the collaborative capabilities of the system but importantly, we can do so at our own pace, building and unifying applications onto the network as and when the business is ready.
So far, the platform has been deployed across 14 sites at the trust at an undisclosed cost.
As well as enabling staff to better share expertise, the central system is also helping the telecoms team to analyse and drive down the cost of lines and minutes across the organisation.
Darren Boyce, chief executive officer of Proximity Communications, said that managing and reducing expenditure is still the primary driver in the adoption of unified communications strategies. “Organisations recognise the productivity benefits of a social enterprise, but it’s difficult to prove the return-on-investment of collaboration and knowledge share.”
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