Mental healthcare provider partners with Advanced to deliver digital transformation

St Andrew’s Healthcare has selected Advanced as its strategic partner to deliver a full digital transformation programme worth several million pounds over five years.

Designed to mitigate IT risk while driving significant efficiencies; the contract will see Advanced take the charity on an innovative change programme enabling it to focus on its core competencies – delivering specialist care to patients with some of the most-complex and challenging mental health needs.

In healthcare, it’s critical to find the right partner; one who can provide added value thanks to their deep understanding and experience of the sector, especially in managing secure, hosted environments and transformative projects

St Andrew’s Healthcare employs more than 4,500 people across four locations and cares for up to 900 patients on 78 wards.

Originally established in 1838, more than 90% of the charity’s patients are referred via the NHS.

The charity followed a rigorous IT procurement process and Advanced was chosen by mapping its response to the charity’s transformation agenda while also demonstrating a strong track record of success with other organisations in similar environments.

Providing full IT outsourcing, Advanced will manage all the business-critical services that St Andrew’s Healthcare requires, from desktop to datacentre, including 24x7 hosted infrastructure management initially on dedicated infrastructure, with back-up and disaster recovery services.

Leslie Ross, director of business change and IT at St Andrew’s Healthcare, said: “The whole world has changed, especially over the last two years which has seen cyber security become frontline news.

“Some industries, such as financial services, are geared up for this evolution. However, the rest of the world is still hugely vulnerable.

“It’s time for us to step up to ensure we mitigate future risks, while becoming more mobile, agile and connected, as well as meeting St Andrew’s strategy and digitisation plans.”

In the first phase, Advanced will oversee the service adoption and management of St Andrew’s Healthcare’s existing infrastructure, with an immediate focus on mitigating risk in the areas of external security threats.

Ross adds: “In healthcare, it’s critical to find the right partner; one who can provide added value thanks to their deep understanding and experience of the sector, especially in managing secure, hosted environments and transformative projects.

“We’re confident that our highly-collaborative approach will help both parties achieve long-term value, reducing the overall total cost of ownership. For example, our strategy of moving to cloud-based solutions could not be achieved without the right partner.”

It’s time for us to step up to ensure we mitigate future risks, while becoming more mobile, agile and connected

The second phase will encompass a full change management plan, of which Advanced will work with the charity to focus on three key areas to deliver further positive impact from its digital transformation; empowering staff with mobile technology, supporting patients with tools to help their therapy and access to friends and family; and finally, leveraging the Internet of Things, enabling external suppliers’ secure access to reduce costs while protecting the core systems.

Roy Wood, managing director of IT services at Advanced, said: “As a forward-thinking mental healthcare charity living in a digital world, St Andrew’s has recognised the importance of re-imagining its organisation in order to meet staff, patient and regulatory expectations.

“Putting its faith in Advanced is testament to the success we’ve achieved in advising and transitioning other healthcare organisations, all underpinned by our robust security measures and a team of highly-knowledgeable sector specialists.”