NextiraOne picks up Birmingham Community Healthcare contract

LICHFIELD telecoms firm NextiraOne has been awarded a seven-year project by NHS trust Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC).

No monetary value has been put on the contract.

NextiraOne will replace the trust’s ageing legacy PBX system with a powerful new voice over IP telephony system incorporating a centralised operator service and high quality contact centre facilities.

The new platform will enable the trust to implement a single point of access for urgent referrals into its rapid response and community nursing services.

BCHC provides accessible and responsive community and specialist services within Birmingham and the West Midlands. It is split into three clinical divisions providing patient services for adults and communities, children and families and specialist services.

The trust runs a 24-hour telephone service that aims to offer a single point of access for referrals into community nursing services providing rapid assessment and managing referrals, direct admissions into community hospitals, as well as the urgent bed bureau function for all Birmingham acute hospitals.

The trust wanted to consolidate its telephony services into one up-to-date, reliable system that would serve around 7,000 users with both voice and data and would also provide customer-focused communications. 

David Hope, ICT project manager at BCHC, said “In a very competitive tender with a shortlist of five, NextiraOne gave us the right balance of functionality and cost, but above all gave us the confidence that they could meet our tight deadlines for implementation.

“They are extremely experienced in delivering such complex systems and understanding the needs of the healthcare sector.”

NextiraOne’s Steven Skakel said: “BCHC’s approach will bring better services to the population whilst allowing the trust to consolidate its communications into a single platform.

“This will allow them to deliver high quality services, at the same time as reducing the overall operational costs and with greatly increased efficiency.”