Nov 8, 2011
28 October 2011.
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) has recently launched a new integrated system, based on VMWare Service Manager, at Waikato Hospital using mobile phone technology to manage services and allocate jobs to attendants to reduce wasted time.
In the past attendants returned to base to get their jobs through a paper-based system, which was extremely inefficient. The new system incorporates mobile phones to allocate the jobs and notify them while they are out in the hospital. The Waiora Waikato Hospital campus is the largest in Australasia, so the opportunity to allocate jobs in this way will result in major productivity gains.
This new system was chosen after an extensive search was undertaken by Attendants service manager Steve Coles and team leader Marie Dicks to find a system to support the attendants to make them more efficient, so they spend their time looking after patients, not finding out who needs to be looked after.
The new system is an extension of the existing IS help desk system, Infra service desk software (now VMware Service Manager), which has been in use at Waikato DHB since 2002.
“We wanted a system that would reduce wasted time in walking back and forth to the main attendant room to get jobs and gave us more equitable and smart job allocation and better reporting,” said Mr Coles.
“We looked at the various systems across Australia and New Zealand and the best option for us was to extend our existing service desk software with the help of Delta Software who had set up our existing system. This gave us a customisable solution which we were able to adapt to specifically meet our needs.”
The project has also developed, with big picture efficiencies in mind, to provide advances for other departments, streamlining their processes and switching them from paper forms to computer-based processes.
“The integration of mobile phones into the system was rolled out on Monday 3rd October and is still in the training/teething phase,” he said.
“Once the new system is fully up and running, we will continue the service improvements in radiology, ED and theatre. All these improvements are being carried out with only one purpose: to ensure we give the best possible care for our patients.
“The whole project is a big step forward in automating how things are done at the Waikato DHB and there has been a real commitment from everyone involved,” says David Gandar, managing director of Delta Software.
“Delta Software is delighted to have been a part of this process.”
Waikato District Health Board
Waikato DHB is responsible for planning, funding and providing quality health and disability support services for the 365,300 people living in the Waikato DHB region. It has an annual turnover of $1.2 billion and employs more than 6000 people.
Mary Anne Gill
Communications Director
Phone: +64 7 834 3684
Email: MaryAnne.Gill@waikatodhb.health.nz
Delta Software
Delta Software specialises in Service Management solutions. Delta covers all the ITIL service processes and can deploy ready-to-go tools tailored to meet business needs. Delta Software represents market-share leaders in the IT Service Management & Operations sector, focusing on IT service management, configuration management, and ITSM best practice tools from VMware, AuditWizard and Polestar.
David Gandar
Managing Director
Phone: +64 9 309 9400
Email: dg@delta.co.nz
