Anglesea Hospital | Professional Services

Health & Veterinary
5/2/2024

Introduction

Anglesea Hospital is a private healthcare facility that specialises in elective surgery. Providing a wide range of diagnostic, interventional and surgical procedures. Their mission is to “provide the best possible surgical experience through excellent care and technology”, and at the heart of this mission, their values of passion, effectiveness, responsiveness, and trust fuel their commitment to delivering outstanding healthcare services.

IT Partners sat down with Jaimee McHugh, from Anglesea Hospital, to explore their decision to work alongside the IT Partners Professional Services team in addressing challenges they faced, with a particular emphasis on improving collaboration and communication within the organisation.

 

Background

To stay ahead of the curve and embrace new technologies for process improvement, Anglesea Hospital recognised the need to implement modern work tools to elevate operations.

Jaimee notes that some of their challenges included “inefficient internal communication, information sharing, and meeting processes”. They relied on multiple systems for storing and managing company data, resulting in duplication. Their team also faced challenges while working remotely, primarily attributed to restricted server access and a heavy reliance on paper-based processes. These combined factors had a significant impact on the overall efficiency of their internal operations.

Cyber security was also a motivating factor in the Hospital’s decision to collaborate with IT Partners; Jamiee highlights, “Following the cyberattack at Te Whatu Ora, in 2019, we reviewed what we had in place, and to be honest, it was quite scary, so it was definitely a driving factor”.  

 

Taking Action

To gain an accurate understanding of the challenges present in their work environment, the Professional Services team at IT Partners conducted interviews with team members from each department, including administrative, clinical, and management roles. Through this comprehensive Information Management Review, IT Partners compiled a roadmap to prioritise findings aimed at aligning Anglesea Hospital with industry best practices – thus initiating the Anglesea Hospital Microsoft 365 transformation project.

The review identified key business requirements, including:

·      The need for enhanced security and productivity, “Implementing a password management system meant we would have improved security and a faster log in process” states Jaimee.

·      The importance of a modern intranet site within Microsoft 365, serving as a centralised hub for organisational information and uncovering the benefits of modern cloud storage. This would foster efficiency among employees and contribute to Anglesea Hospital's transition toward a paper-free environment.

·      The limitations of traditional internal communication methods prompted the recommendation to integrate Microsoft Teams.

Jaimee highlights “To prioritise these recommendations, we leveraged the expertise of IT Partners Business Analyst. Security and updating our infrastructure were front of mind, as well as communicating to all our staff throughout the project, so they were taken on the change journey”.

 

The Outcomes

There were four key stages of Anglesea Hospital’s Microsoft 365 transformation project.

Stage one focussed on migrating Anglesea Hospital’s H Drive to OneDrive. Moving to OneDrive not only streamlined document management but also facilitated ease of access for staff, allowing them to retrieve documents from various devices, even while working remotely.

Next was the implementation of Microsoft Teams which Jaimee says, “significantly enhanced communication flows within the organisation. The platform facilitated quick and informal communication among team members, reducing reliance on email.” It also provided a more efficient way to share and collaborate on one version of each file.

Stage three involved the migration of Shared Drives to SharePoint. This strategic move consolidated information that had previously been dispersed across various servers and locations into a unified and central hub.

The final stage of Anglesea Hospital’s Microsoft 365 transformation project focussed on implementing an intranet, which Jaimee emphasises “marked a significant milestone for their team.” Thesite now acts as a training hub and a one-stop source for processes, news, events, and reminders, bringing together important information in a single, easy-to-access location.

With so many moving parts, Jaimee credits the IT Partners team and the project management principles applied for ensuring the timely and budgeted completion of all tasks, “[IT Partners] were also extremely respectful with what we currently had in place. There were no pointing fingers or scrutinising the legacy system we were working on. It was all about looking forward.”