Workplace restrictions may have eased under recent Living with COVID guidance, but there has been little change in many healthcare environments.
Coronavirus cases continue to surge, putting the NHS and other healthcare providers under continued strain and leaving healthcare bosses ‘very concerned’ about the situation.
Many providers are still keeping vital staff in separate shifts to ensure continued service, and productivity continues to be affected as remote employees struggle to access hospital systems from home.
Rising challenges
Long before Coronavirus lockdowns, IT teams in the healthcare sector were facing mounting challenges to improve collaboration across multi-disciplinary teams.
And on-premise IT infrastructure and resources were already straining to cope with ever-growing demands of data privacy, security, and specialist medical applications.
Businesses in other sectors have turned to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to facilitate long-term hybrid working and boost workforce mobility in the post-pandemic era.
Many healthcare providers have struggled to roll out VDI platforms successfully for all staff, soon discovering off-the-shelf platforms weren’t designed for power users working with graphics-heavy medical imaging applications
The NHS is among many organisations looking to follow suit with a goal to enable all staff ‘to work flexibly, regardless of role, grade, reason or circumstance’.
But many healthcare providers have struggled to roll out VDI platforms successfully for all staff, soon discovering off-the-shelf platforms weren’t designed for power users working with graphics-heavy medical imaging applications.
The result has been that healthcare professionals, such as radiologists, are effectively chained to their workplace IT set-up.
How to avoid five common VDI pitfalls
If IT teams are ever to release power users from hospital workstations, choosing a remote working solution that’s proven to be effective for all staff will be essential.
Understanding common obstacles and how to overcome them is a great place to start as most healthcare VDI initiatives fail for one or more of the following reasons:
- One-size-fits-all assumptions: It’s a common mistake to assume all staff will have the same needs and interact similarly with VDI - they don’t and won’t
- Poor performance: Substandard user experience (UX) derails many a VDI project. Common causes are inadequate compute or storage resources, difficulties sharing files, latency, and client device issues
- Security risks: In healthcare, deploying VDI workloads securely and compliantly is vital. Home devices are susceptible to a wide range of attacks and security issues, so IT teams need the freedom to choose which apps and workloads should reside in the cloud and on-premise
- In-house resources: Be honest about your team’s skillset and scrutinise existing infrastructure closely when choosing a deployment model. The challenges of dealing with legacy infrastructure, cloud deployment, and app optimisation shouldn’t be underestimated
- Business case blunders: All too often, VDI providers’ money-saving promises turn out to be empty. Before and after IT infrastructure costs often remain flat. The real return on investment (ROI) from hybrid working comes from optimised multidisciplinary teams and more agile processes
Increase your chances of success
To improve your chances of success, look for a supplier with a successful track record of designing and deploying remote working technologies in the healthcare sector.
Choose one which understands how to meet healthcare compliance requirements and offers VDI consumption in the cloud, on-premise, or using a hybrid model in a single, seamless solution. Their experience will be invaluable in unlocking full VDI potential.
Also, choose a provider that differentiates between VDI profiles for ordinary and power users and offers scalable pricing and burst capability.
In the right hands, VDI can be engineered for even the most-demanding, graphics-heavy clinical imaging applications, as well as knowledge workers with basic IT needs.
These purpose-built VDI solutions give users tools and experiences identical to, or better than, those they enjoy in the workplace.
And, when evaluating VDI solutions, be sure to calculate total cost of ownership (TCO) over five years.
Don’t underestimate the value of enabling medical teams to work and collaborate effectively from anywhere – VDI which works for all healthcare workers can expedite diagnoses and treatments, resulting in improved patient outcomes
Opting for the managed service provider (MSP) route can result in savings on data centre space, infrastructure, upgrades, licensing, application deployment, support, and headcount.
So, scrutinise their technical credentials and be confident they can deploy the right solution, leverage the latest technologies, and provide ongoing management, optimisation, and 24/7 support.
Unlocking greater ROI from remote working
It’s easy to look at any IT investment based purely on financial costs, but this ignores a host of wider benefits that can be unlocked by successful VDI deployment.
Don’t underestimate the value of enabling medical teams to work and collaborate effectively from anywhere – VDI which works for all healthcare workers can expedite diagnoses and treatments, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
Moreover, flexible working for all has the potential to release healthcare staff from traditional workplaces and restrictive hours.
For organisations, it offers the opportunity to retain existing people and attract new talent, contributing to mental health, wellbeing, and engagement.
Medical-grade VDI in action
The award-winning VDI deployment for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a good example of a healthcare organisation unlocking the benefits of remote working through purpose-built technology.
Purpose-built, VDIPOD from Creative ITC means radiologists can now work effectively remotely with secure access to high-quality medical imaging and healthcare systems.
Freed from the hospital campus, they enjoy superior user performance and enhanced welfare, and working at home feels the same as on-site, with no loss of performance or speed.
As part of the managed service, Creative ITC provides 24-hour technical assistance, so radiologists can change work schedules or respond to an emergency. In addition to improved patient care the trust believes its effective flexible working solution will help attract, and retain, the best specialists.