Significant long-term savings
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust manages three hospitals and a nursing unit in Kent. With around 3,500 staff across four sites and a full range of acute services including A&E and maternity, the trust relies heavily on printed documents for record keeping and communication.
The trust was managing its printing in-house but was having significant issues with reliability and quality of printing, as well as using a large volume of consumables and experiencing high maintenance costs.
In 2013, the trust appointed Brother to operate its first managed print service, and the relationship has grown and evolved ever since, now operating across all three of its sites.
As a result, the trust has saved more than £200,000, and the printers have achieved 99.9% uptime throughout the relationship, freeing up vital staff time, particularly in critical departments including accident and emergency (A&E).
The right diagnosis
Using a fleet of printers that’s well aligned with the requirements of every team across an organisation is essential in delivering an efficient print function.
Working closely with the trust, Brother carried out a comprehensive audit of the print requirements of every department in the three hospital buildings. This revealed that the legacy fleet of 700 printers was very poorly aligned with its needs. Many units were used only by single individuals and received very light use, while others were struggling under the weight of very busy departments.
For example, the A&E departments were identified as the heaviest print users, explaining why they also saw the highest occurrence of printer failure – something that the IT department had wrongly assumed was due to misuse by staff.
Ensuring alignment
Based on the audit, Brother specified a streamlined fleet of printers that aligned closely with each department’s needs. More units were installed in departments where print volumes were highest, while users with lower print needs were asked to share units.
The scheme also ensured that colour printers were only used where there was a technical requirement, such as departments where scans need to be viewed in colour to be understood by physicians, helping to keep costs down.
A visible improvement
A key benefit of the MPS agreement is that the trust now has full visibility of how its printers are used, and how they are performing.
This means that any pain points where printers are exceeding their recommended usage level, or any cases where printers are being under-used, can be addressed to ensure on-going efficiency.
