The movement of non-patient related items in and around NHS Trusts can be a costly and time-consuming exercise. Working closely with Trusts, we’ve identified that there is substantial room for cost and efficiency savings to be made by utilising the 365 Smart Platform Courier Module.
This dedicated module has been specifically designed to streamline the process of moving the vast array of items that require internal transport within NHS organisations. Laundry, blood, samples, post, catering, clinical and confidential waste are just a few of the items that regularly need to be moved around within hospitals, and it is a task that is often fulfilled by costly taxi services. These costs can be hugely reduced with the introduction of a process utilising internal fleets to assign and track such movements.
The 365 Smart Platform is well placed to provide a comprehensive overview of the assigned staff and vehicle’s schedule, bringing opportunities to simplify and restructure the way that Trust’s work, in order to maximise efficiencies. The current pandemic presents a number of challenges for the NHS, with further strain expected to be placed on resources in the race to distribute tests and vaccines. The 365 Courier Module provides complete reporting, identifying granular detail such as how long journeys and deliveries take, presenting improved options for route planning and scheduling capacity.
Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust (GMMH) are in the early stages of implementing the Courier Module. Lindsey Farquhar, Facilities Manager, GMMH, spoke about the initial benefits,
“It’s going to help us implement a completely new way of working. At the moment, with the transport distribution service, we’re using it to replicate the way we’ve been working for quite some time. That’s going to help us to understand where we’re putting our effort, where we’ve got time-wasting, and then we can start improving our service.”
The 365 Smart Platform is a modular-based software as a service, that provides a comprehensive view of resources, allowing them to be planned, tracked and managed in one place. The Courier module allows Trusts to completely re-think their non-patient movements and utilise real-time reporting to create valuable efficiencies.
The built-in route planning ensures the swiftest route is taken to incorporate as many pickups and deliveries as possible in one shift. The time-stamping process gives helpful insight into the length of time spent on each task, meaning that resources can be reorganised for better utilisation. Identifying opportunities for time savings can bring great benefits in the long run and ultimately lead to time being better spent. Greater visibility of resources can play a key role in reducing unnecessary costs (such as external taxi services) and secure savings for Trusts.
Christopher Oldland, Logistics Manager, at GMMH spoke about the ability to track each job in the system and how they can use it to create efficiencies;
“Moving forward I think that’s going to be something important for us to look at – a more efficient way of doing the same trips that we’re doing now. Also, being able to see things like if we’ve already been to a location three times that day because it makes you think about combining all of those journeys into one instead of splitting them up.”
Brendan Fatchett, Chief Commercial Officer at 365 Response “we pride ourselves on being experts in the field of patient transport services, so developing a module for the specific movements of non-patient related activity was a natural progression within the 365 Smart Platform. We know that the NHS is currently overwhelmed at the moment and we want to create opportunities to help them to make valuable efficiencies. We expect that very soon, there will be a huge demand to distribute Covid-19 vaccines in addition to Winter Pressures and other requirements. Our Courier Module is perfectly placed to support this service and others.”
If you’d like to discuss creating valuable efficiencies using the 365 Smart Platform Courier Module to manage your internal vehicle movements, get in touch via [email protected].
