Modernised 100-Seat Service Desk Using Chatbot and Smart RPA

The Bottom Line

The NHS is stretched to its limits to balance budgets and resources while providing effective patient care. NHS North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT NHS) recognised the enormous strain on the service desk to support the complex network of infrastructure, services, systems and devices that are required to operate a busy hospital. Building on from Alphalake Ai’s management reporting project, NELFT NHS realised that automating administrative service desk processes would free up valuable employee resources, eliminate errors and improve response times.

About NHS North East London Foundation Trust

NHS North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT NHS) staff of approximately 6000 employees and an annual budget of £355 million serves around 4.3 million people based across London, Essex, Kent and Medway. NELFT NHS offers integrated community and mental health services, covering a number of London boroughs and their surrounding areas.

The Challenge

The successful running of a large hospital, including triaging of patients, access to patient data, administrative systems used by practitioners, billing, training of staff and the performance of advanced medical devices relies on the capabilities of the IT service desk. While IT support is critical for the operations of any business, within the healthcare industry it can have a significant impact on the quality of patient care and consequently on the health and the lives of hospital patients.

NELFT NHS realised that a solution was needed to reduce the pressure on the service desk and by doing so, support the over-stretched healthcare workers. They knew that by implementing the right technology, they could improve efficiency, reduce costs and provide better care.

The Solution

One of the highlights from NELCSU NHS’ initial management reporting project with Alphalake Ai was being able to set the wheels in motion for larger automation-based solutions. THE NELFT NHS service desk was identified as a crucial area that would benefit from RPA interventions.

Service desk processes necessitate a more sophisticated solution than our previous NHS NELFT project, as significantly more systems have to be accessed when carrying out a broad array of demands. Having helped plant the seeds of automation literacy within NELFT’s team, we have been able to take on the challenge of designing bots that can connect to a greater number of system interfaces.

Although an increased scale and volume of systems and processes are involved, the principle, and foundations of utilising RPA remain the same: using software to follow and then replicate the activities of a human worker, through a combination of attended and unattended bots.

We knew that a chatbot could fast track the receipt of service desk tickets, and then using smart RPA, these specialised bots could log that ticket and carry out the required task. This may involve directing users to the relevant information or employee, or directly solving the query without the need for human intervention.

The Business Outcome

Using automation to interact with a multitude of systems allows employees at NELFT NHS to be applied to value-adding tasks, by reducing the repetitive menial tasks required to run a busy hospital. The result of reduced administration is not only hugely improved effectiveness and diminished delays but a significant benefit to staff mental health and wellbeing through stress reduction.

Head to our services page and our Health Bot Store for more information on what we can offer your organisation, and get in touch below to book in for a free 2-hour consultation and audit with our team. We also offer a free onsite workshop for situations where an ROI from automating processes has been identified.