NHS Wales gets one number for IT

Tags: Informing Healthcare Wales

03 Jun 2010

NHS staff at hospitals in Wales are using a new dedicated service desk and one number for IT support.

The new service desk, which is using software developed by NHS Wales IT staff, is being piloted and tested by Hywel Dda before being rolled out across the country later this year.

Servicepoint is also being piloted by the NHS Wales Informatics Service Velindre, Aneurin Bevan, Betsi Cadwaldr, Welsh Ambulance and Primary Care Service Desks.

A Servicepoint incident management module has this week been successfully launched in Cwm Taf.

The service provides users with one number to call when their computer or system develops a fault and provides them with a dedicated email address and intranet link for information.

Robin Jones, assistant director of informatics in Hywel Dda said: "This new service will be based on recognised best practice.

"More importantly, it will greatly improve the current service desk bringing together the disparate arrangements into a single coherent service that is fit for purpose for the new health board."

Informing Healthcare said the programme will deliver better service and support in information technology. The improvements are in line with global best practice in service management standards known as IT Infrastructure Library.

Over 400 staff have received information and technology training, including nearly 100 in ITIL, and an additional 300 have been trained in Servicepoint across NHS Wales.

Sarah Bruce

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Readers Comments

Hats off to Wales

03 Jun 10 21:27

NHS Wales, I salute you. None of this c*bblers of competition, "commissioning", FT nonsense - does all this get us better, at all, even one tiny bit? No, it gives us lots of replication of services and waste-of-space people and initiatives here in England, I'm afraid. I like the sound of what you've done: plain old-fashioned, organised SERVICE. Well done. I hope so much this works well.

Please can you come and run things to the east too?

Will they know enough to help, actually?

04 Jun 10 05:20

Brilliant idea, but typical experiences with "help" desks are that they take too long to answer the phone, do not understand the problem, provide erroneous information, and are thus, wasting clinician time. They say they will get back with answers but maybe 3 days later, after I forgot the question, they call. Will this group at the "dedicated service desk" know enough to help, actually?

Wales better

04 Jun 10 21:32

I'd agree with comment 1 about the benefits for Wales of not having the internal market in healthcare, and how in England this cuts across clinical collaboration that would be to the benefit of the patient, but I wouldn't extrapolate that to the benefits of one IT service desk for the principality.

They may be able to tell you about nationally provided applications being down, but for the many local systems and network intricacies that must still exist in Welsh hospitals and community/primary settings, my experience of many of these 'ITIL' quality helpdesks are a failure to understand or faithfully convey the question onwards, and extra delays in getting to the original local person to actually fix the problem.

And a propensity to close the call at the earliest opportunity whether the problem is fixed or not. A bit like the perverse incentives on health targets that beset the NHS in Engalnd.

And remember that many in the Welsh programme made their mistakes in designing and running NPfIT.

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