Oxford University Hospitals: Digital processes for better patient care

When a patient requires potentially life-saving care, they’re not just relying on physical treatments. They’re relying on healthcare professionals who have the time and resources they need to do their work, on digital systems that run smoothly to avoid unnecessary delays, and on a complex web of infrastructure that empowers medical research that could save their lives.

That’s why Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) turned to ServiceNow. As one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the UK, delivering care to more than 1 million patients each year, OUH needed to drive efficiency through digital transformation to continue to deliver top-tier patient care.

Prioritising patient care

In the past, employees spent valuable time on what should be relatively simple administrative tasks, for example, raising a tech support query. This type of task, though highly automatable, would often consist of several manual, time-consuming steps. The right supporting solutions can reform this process, taking advantage of new technology to free up staff time and improve efficiency. “Our doctors, support staff, and clinicians need to spend their time where it matters most—with patients, and in support of patient care,” explained Matt Harris, director of digital services for OUH.

The OUH team worked with ServiceNow partner Telefonica Tech to implement a new self-service portal. Enabling staff to handle more queries themselves—from password resets to accessing self-help advice online—reduced the need for on-call technical support around the clock.

The self-service portal greatly decreased the time it takes to solve tech issues and led to cost savings across the board—and more time to prioritise patient care. “The results speak for themselves,” Harris said. “In the first twelve months, over 75% of incidents logged for technical support were resolved via self-service or by the first person who made contact and within SLA.”

Streamlining healthcare processes

OUH is also adopting ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management. This will give staff a complete 360-degree view into demands and projects, including budget and time. More importantly, it will provide a read on the positive impact that a specific project will have on patient care.

Whether the goal is to improve outpatient communications, integrate new technology with the electronic patient record, or replace infrastructure or digital equipment, staff can now check status, cost, and the potential impact such a project could have on patients in just a few seconds.

Simplifying project-based work can save staff time and energy, boost productivity, increase efficiency, and make it easier to reduce overall spend. These resources can then be allocated elsewhere for greater effectiveness.

“This is just the beginning,” Harris says. “As we move into next year, we’re excited to use the Virtual Agent AI-powered chatbot for additional staff support and continue our digital transformation journey.”

Find out more about how ServiceNow can make a difference in your healthcare organisation.