We spoke to Senior Application Support Specialist & SDI Co-ordinator, Lily Kainey and her team at the Trust to learn more about them and their Service Desk Certification (SDC) journey. Here’s what they had to say:
The Trust
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust are the lead provider of mental health, community and learning disability services across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The Trust provides community hospitals, community-based nursing and therapy services and mental health and learning disability services. These services support around 10,000 patients, and their efforts help avoid approximately 30 hospital admissions every day. In addition, our Countywide Community Services include Worcestershire’s community hospitals and rehabilitation units, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, community stroke services and specialist neurological clinics.
The Service Desk Team
Our IT Service Desk comprises a team of 11, including 8 Analysts, 2 Senior Service Desk Technicians, and an IT Service Desk Manager. We collectively oversee the IT service desk operations across both Herefordshire and Worcestershire, providing support to approximately 5000 users as part of the wider digital support, technology and development teams which includes a total of 58 staff members altogether.
Joining the SDC programme
“The Leadership team recognised joining the SDC programme would contribute towards the values and benefits within the IT department and to assist us in aligning our existing policies and procedures with global best practices.”
In late 2020, the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust chose to bring the IT Services back in-house, making us an IT Department who were only 3 years in operation at the time of the initial Service Desk Assessment. The IT Leadership team recognised the benefits of embarking on the Service Desk Certification (SDC) journey with the support of SDI.
The Leadership team recognised joining the SDC programme would contribute towards the values and benefits within the IT department and to assist us in aligning our existing policies and procedures with global best practices. This alignment enables us to provide efficient, customer-led services to our users in accordance with our vision of “working together for outstanding care.” Another reason for choosing SDC was to establish ourselves as a recognised empowered service desk and IT department across the health landscape in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Benefits from Service Desk Certification
“Calls answered have increased from an average 80%, to a consistent 95%.”
One significant benefit we’ve experienced is our emphasis on gathering advanced feedback from users through various channels. This not only provides valuable insights into our team’s customer service performance but also aids in swiftly identifying areas that need improvement. Sharing feedback amongst the Service Desk team serves as a morale booster, reassuring them that their efforts are contributing to an excellent job.
Calls answered have increased from an average 80%, to a consistent 95%. It is anticipated that our annual survey results will improve because of changes made already and even further by the plans we are looking to introduce to enhance the service over the next year.
Challenges
“After receiving our Certification audit report, we now have a plan in place for the specific areas that require the most attention for improvement.”
During the SDC process, we encountered many challenges, particularly as our department’s newness became apparent and highlighted our reactive maturity levels. Initially we also encountered low levels of both user and employee engagement and feedback which have since significantly risen over the past year. Given we are a relatively small team, the effort required to produce the evidence required for the Certification audit was a challenge, one which the whole wider IT team supported and helped to pull together.
After receiving our Certification audit report, we now have a plan in place for the specific areas that require the most attention for improvement. These include continuing to formalise and document current activities and working practices, enhancing our continual service improvement process, and persisting in the effort to define and document our customer experience programme.
Would you recommend the SDC programme to other similar services?
“The programme has completely shifted our focus and mindset, keeping our minds buzzing with new ideas and consistently evaluating the impact on users, staff and teams involved in new projects.”
We highly recommend SDC to other IT services, particularly within the NHS. The programme has completely shifted our focus and mindset, keeping our minds buzzing with new ideas and consistently evaluating the impact on users, staff and teams involved in new projects. We appreciate having passionate staff eager to make a difference, and this programme fosters a culture of continual service improvement which can assist in embedding these behaviours.
Proud and Inspired Team
Attaining a 2-star proactive service desk rating at nearly 3.5 years old is an outstanding accomplishment. We welcomed a new IT Service Desk Manager just five months prior to the audit, and their contribution significantly boosted our Service Desk’s involvement in this journey, leading to the achievement of this recognition. Beyond the service desk, our department boasts a group of dedicated and hardworking colleagues who share a collective commitment to addressing ongoing issues, ensuring a seamless digital work experience for our users.
What’s next?
Our plans over the next two years are to continue improving our customer-centric journey, ensuring our goals of enabling our Trust staff with digital solutions, ensuring processes mature and improve and alignment with our mission and vision statements.
We are looking forward to continuing our SDC journey with the aim of hopefully achieving a 3-star rating.
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