Vodafone will provide fixed-line services, mobile connectivity and its 999 call centre infrastructure support and maintenance. Bringing together SCAS’s communications under one supplier will create savings estimated at half a million pounds over the next five years and help the service’s 2,500 staff communicate more efficiently as they deliver vital healthcare services across the region.
SCAS was created five years ago through the merger of the ambulance trusts in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire and covers an area of approximately 3,500 sq miles with a residential population of over four million.
As a result of the merger, the service had several communications suppliers covering different areas so it was looking to replace them with a single supplier who could provide resilient fixed, mobile and unified communications across its footprint. Having one supplier will maximise efficiencies, helping the service to continue to provide high quality healthcare services to patients.
Vodafone UK will merge SCAS’s fixed-line and mobile communications giving all staff, including its clinical front line staff and 999 call centre operators, access to effective communications. In situations where every second counts, the consolidated platform will help employees to get in touch quickly with the right person. This cost effective solution will allow SCAS to invest the resulting financial savings into front-line patient care.
SCAS will also work with Vodafone to make use of the company’s expertise and communications technology to deliver other improvements across the service such as reducing paper processes, giving staff greater access to systems and databases on the move and using workforce management applications to make best use of employees’ time.
Vodafone’s experience in working with the emergency services, its thorough understanding of SCAS’s present and future challenges and the ability to deliver consolidated, cost-effective and reliable communications made them a clear choice for SCAS.
“Vodafone’s technology will benefit both our employees and the local communities,” said Vince Weldon, Associate Director of Information Management and Technology, SCAS. “In addition to helping us improve the effectiveness of our everyday working, we see Vodafone as a credible strategic partner and an organisation that can work with us to deliver innovation and support our new ways of working ambitions. We hope this partnership will successfully demonstrate how effective telecoms solutions can help in the evolution of the health sector.”