Challenge
As a specialist Trust for women and babies, among the 50,000 patients that pass through their doors each year, LWH delivers over 8,000 babies, cares for 1,000 babies on their Neonatal Unit, undertakes almost 10,000 gynecological procedures, and carries out over 2,000 cycles of IVF. LWH has a national and international reputation as a specialist provider, and in approaching Lexmark, recognised the need to overhaul its existing expensive and unmanaged print fleet to reduce costs, eliminate waste and support a drive towards digital working practices.
LWH’s legacy fleet consisted of 50 different printer models from seven different manufacturers, creating an unnecessarily complex and disparate environment that was not only expensive, but complicated to manage. The lack of standardisation was also compromising output efficiencies and consequently, delaying vital processes.
Like other trusts, LWH also needed to respond to the NHS’ 2020 “Paperless Challenge”. As few hospitals can make the jump from paper-based processes to fully digital in one step, LWH turned to Lexmark to review their existing fleet, and suggest and implement a solution to support their journey.
Solution
After a full audit of the printing process across the Trust, which included an assessment of future requirements, Lexmark proposed an enhanced output fleet and managed service design, consisting of an optimised mix of A4/A3, colour/black & white and multifunctional devices. The Lexmark solution consolidated devices by over 30% and provided a platform on which to drive continuous improvement, supporting the Trust’s aim to complete more tasks digitally at the point of care.
The five-year Lexmark Smart Managed Print Services agreement was developed to ensure ongoing optimisation and maintenance of the Trust’s output estate, with an implementation that was fast, simple, and completed on schedule within four weeks. Lexmark also implemented its Secure Print Release solution to support security, policy enforcement, waste avoidance, user access control and output visibility and analytics.
Implementation
Strong senior stakeholder support from the internal team at LWH meant that staff were aware of the benefits of the new output infrastructure and associated software. This ensured that the implementation phase was fast, efficient and well received by end users. The approach meant that the newly installed Lexmark MPS devices immediately became productivity tools across the organisation, helping to improve information access and support the introduction of more efficient digital processes.
Through close collaboration with LWH staff, Lexmark ensured the main focus remained on helping the Trust to become more productive and efficient.
Results
The Lexmark MPS implementation has consolidated LWH’s devices by over 30%, with a 70% reduction in spend and a 20% reduction in page volumes on a year on year basis.
Efficiency was also increased by the intuitive nature of Lexmark MPS, which includes proactive consumables management for the replenishment of supplies, and the fleet management capability through ongoing service reporting and governance. LWH plans to now use this project as a platform to adopt further “paper light” initiatives through a modular approach.
In addition, LWH is benefiting from the Lexmark Secure Print Management solution, ensuring printed output is only accessible to approved employees.
A Blueprint for Excellence
The Liverpool Women’s digital transformation team are keen to collaborate with NHS Trusts who would like to leverage their experience of effectively managing output as part of a broader digital strategy.
As a Fast Follower to GDE Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, the LWH team have engaged with Trusts such as North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (a fellow Fast Follower to the RLBUHT), in order to share their Smart MPS project blueprint and recommendations for maximising savings, patient safety, data security and efficiency benefits.
