Case Study: Bristol Community Health
Managed cloud and DaaS support for 1,600 healthcare workers across Bristol.
What we did
When Bristol Community Health took over the delivery of community healthcare services across Bristol and beyond, it needed a purpose-built IT infrastructure that would support mobile working for its 1,600 staff. Fordway designed and implemented a cost-effective managed cloud solution that enables them to access the network from any location, with 24×7 support to ensure they can always obtain whatever services they need.
Categories
DaaS
IaaS
Key Stats
Staff
Sites Across the Bristol Area
Services Provided
The Challenge
BCH needed a new IT infrastructure to support its multiple sites and 1,600 staff in providing healthcare in the community. With 25 sites across the Bristol area and teams working with patients at their homes or in community centres, reliable mobile working was essential to provide access to all the systems used to support clinical care. BCH needed a solution that made mobile working straightforward for people whose expertise is in providing clinical care, not configuring IT systems.
The Solution
Fordway was awarded a five-year contract to provide BCH with a new cloud-based IT infrastructure using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS). Fordway’s managed cloud services provide the business continuity and resilience required to support operations.
The desktop includes core applications and full device management through Microsoft SCCM. 1,100 users were provided with new Windows 10 devices procured by BCH, while a further 400 Windows 7 desktops were redeployed from the previous contract. All services are fully mobile enabled so that they can be accessed from any location through WiFi or 4G. Fordway’s Service Desk provides 24 x 7 support.
The project needed to meet strict budgetary requirements and a tight schedule. Fordway prepared a detailed project plan showed the individual steps required to complete each onboarding phase and a risk register to RAID standards, which was constantly updated throughout the life of the project.
The rollout was carried out in a phased approach, with Fordway consultants working alongside the BCH project management team. Part of the challenge was handling the migration and re-platforming of legacy systems seamlessly to minimise disruption. Testing, UAT and operational readiness acceptance were crucial to ensure sign-off and maintain the schedule, and an integrated communications plan meant that all BCH users were kept up to date with the information relevant to them. On-site tailored training was provided to groups of users, to support each user’s level of IT proficiency. Analysts were on hand throughout to support for each site and handle initial queries.