“Now, our staff don’t need to give any thought to toners running out – new ones are simply installed as and when they arrive, and we never experience any interruption due to printer availability. That means we can focus more on looking after patients.”
Mr Andrew Watson, Practice Manager at Fullwell Cross Medical Centre
An East London surgery, Fullwell Cross Medical Centre in Ilford, had become increasingly aware of vital patient-contact time being taken up by unreliable, high-maintenance printers.
It is a busy practice, helping many patients every day through both in-person and phone consultations.
When printer toner ran out, which happened on an almost weekly basis, doctors or nurses would often have to break off to locate a replacement from the storeroom and install it. This meant precious time away from seeing patients and, in some instances, increased waiting times.
It also meant phoning for technical support whenever there was an issue or maintenance was required. This was clearly neither an efficient way of working, nor cost-savvy, as working with third-party suppliers made forecasting spend on consumables difficult.
To streamline the ordering process, the surgery has signed up to the Brother Print Service (BPS), which enables automatic supplies reordering using web-connected printers.
Now, whenever a printer is running low on toner, a new one is automatically sent out by mail. This arrives at the surgery with the name of the specific printer on the box, and clear installation instructions inside.
A member of staff simply changes the toner over when it arrives, with no need for supply management or storage at the surgery’s end.
Under the new agreement, the surgeries now enjoy the reliability and quality of genuine Brother supplies at the best cost on the market. Waste disposal is also taken care of, and Brother collects used supplies free of charge, reporting carbon and landfill savings back to the surgeries and clinical commission groups, allowing them to demonstrate progress against targets.
As well as this, Brother monitors printer performance and usage and can advise the surgery on the best way to manage their hardware to maximise its lifespan. For example, if a printer is over-working it can make sense to share the load with another unit in order to reduce the likelihood of breakdowns or premature replacement being needed.
Download your copy of the Fullwell Cross Medical Centre case study
Less staff time taken up with managing replacement supplies, improving patient care.
Lifespan of printers increased thanks to remote usage monitoring, as well as faster technical-support response times.
Better forward visibility on costs, making budgeting easier.
