Case Study: Tender process by Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Courier Transport Services
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In early 2008 Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (BSUH) decided to issue a tender for their courier and transport requirements – a compliant GP collection and delivery service for pathology samples, a medical records delivery service, internal post and delivery services, and urgent ad hoc couriers to the main hospital sites. Medical Couriers fought off stiff competition from 10 other service providers and won the tender process in July 2008. An October 2009 start date for service provision was agreed and discussions with the relevant departments began immediately as part of the implementation plans. A Project Manager was immediately assigned and a Contract Manager recruited from within Medical Couriers.
Pathology Service – Benefits The Pathology Directorate is a major user of transport at the Trust and a fundamental problem faced by the laboratories was the throughput of the samples during the day. Specimens were collected from local GP’s within the PCT area by courier vans on long routes, which resulted in large batches of specimens arriving at the same time during peaks at lunchtime and late afternoon. This often required staff to work overtime to meet the demand whilst much of the day remained unproductive. In conjunction with BSUH, Medical Couriers reviewed the routes for efficiency and assigned motorcycles to the routes. Using motorcycles, we were able to make more frequent deliveries to the laboratories throughout the course of the working day. This enabled a steadier stream and more efficient workload for the laboratory to deal with. As well as helping to create a more efficient laboratory, the service is also popular with GP’s who receive more collections and quicker results. Medical Couriers has its own Training Division to ensure that couriers are trained and are able to transport Diagnostic Specimens safely and efficiently. Medical Couriers have a focused, certified training programme, specifically designed for handling blood
products and specimen and this has been produced in conjunction with University College Hospital NHS Trust.
Improving other Services As well as the services required by the pathology directorate the tender process included a full range of transportation services required by other departments. This included post and general courier services, where a round the clock service is required to deal with the various needs of a complex multi site arrangement. Medical Records are held off site and a timely and responsive courier service is required to ensure safe delivery to the various departments.
Technology The BSUH hospitals can now rest assured that each and every delivery we perform on their behalf has a complete audit trail from initial order, to pick up, to delivery. Medical Couriers utilises the latest in vehicle tracking technology and this is supported by couriers using mobile data terminals to capture digital signatures as proof of delivery. Medical Couriers is also currently implementing barcode scanning (integrated with our existing mobile date terminals) for individual patient specimen batches, thereby providing further audit and trace ability assurance. Medical Couriers is registered under the Data Protection Act and all data is transferred using the secure N3 network to ensure patient confidentiality. Shaun Innes, Transport Manager, Brighton & Sussex University Hospital: “Since introducing the service we have seen significant benefits especially within pathology where we are able to manage the work load much better and increase productivity and turnaround times on sample processing. In all areas we are now 100% compliant both with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods act 2007 and data protection and patient confidentiality.”
www.medicalcouriers.co.uk info@medicalcouriers.co.uk 0207 014 1050