Urgent Care 24 (Urgent Care) is to save up to four working days a month by implementing integrated finance, eProcurement and document management software from Advanced Business Solutions (Advanced). The new solutions will support the organisation's new strategy of devolving greater financial responsibility to budget holders to improve its services. The planned go-live is December 2015.
Urgent Care provides NHS out-of-hours primary care services to 800,000 patients in Halton, Knowsley and Liverpool. The social enterprise has recently significantly increased its turnover and secured a major contract with The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust. However, the organisation's existing back-office processes are manually intensive and hindering its continued growth.
Daniel Williamson, Head of Finance at Urgent Care 24, comments, "Our existing system is slow and can no longer provide the level of detail we need. We required leading technology to support our new financial management strategy and help us become a more paper light organisation.
"Advanced's software was the overwhelming choice as we were impressed by its reporting capabilities and have used its finance system in previous roles so were aware of its quality."
eFinancials will streamline accounting procedures by eliminating the time-consuming production and consolidation of spreadsheets. Urgent Care's senior managers will be able to easily compare budgets against actual expenditure at any time and make adjustments to their financial forecasts. The system will also significantly reduce the time it takes to produce budget statements and summary reports and provide enhanced transparency of information.
The document management technology (powered by V1) will replace manual photocopying and the retrieval of purchase orders, delivery notes and purchase invoices which require signatory approval. All related documents will be scanned, tagged to the appropriate financial record and electronically stored in a secure archive. Invoices are then automatically emailed for authorisation to relevant approvers, cutting administrative time and costs.
Furthermore by using the eProcurement solution, staff will be able to electronically order goods and services from a wide range of authorised suppliers, ensuring greater traceability and financial control.
Williamson comments, "Advanced's solutions will save up to four working days each month by reducing the time it takes us to complete our month-end process. With faster access to more meaningful data we can continue to improve our services to benefit patients in the communities we operate.
"Removing paper will also provide huge efficiencies as it will be at least three years before we need to increase headcount within the finance team. We can now focus on being a greater strategic support function to assist budget holders to make better informed decisions based on accurate information."
Urgent Care has been using the Adastra clinical patient management solution from Advanced’s sister business, Advanced Health & Care, for ten years to manage episodes of care quickly and safely in unscheduled telephone advice and face-to-face settings.
More than 130 NHS Trusts use Advanced’s eFinancials solution, making it one of the largest suppliers of financial software in this sector.
About Urgent Care 24
Urgent Care 24 is an NHS out-of-hours primary care service for the population of Halton, Knowsley and Liverpool in Merseyside. As a Social Enterprise, Urgent Care 24 has no shareholders and operates strictly on a not-for-dividend basis where any surpluses are re-invested back into the service.
About Advanced Business Solutions
Advanced Business Solutions (Advanced) provides leading integrated business applications and services that enable public, private and third sector organisations to retain control, improve visibility and gain efficiencies whilst continually improving corporate performance. Advanced prides itself on getting close to its customers by understanding their businesses and responding to their evolving needs.
Advanced's software systems comprise core accounting/financial management, procurement, supply chain management, human resource, payroll and customer relationship management systems. These systems are integrated with a range of collaborative, document management and business intelligence solutions to extend the value and effectiveness of front and back office departments.
Management information systems for school and academies are provided through Advanced's subsidiaries, Advanced Learning and Compass Computer Consultants. Advanced also provides specialist vertical solutions for the not-for-profit, sports, arts, live events and legal markets. All solutions can be delivered as a managed or bureau service.
Customers are from both the public and private sectors and include Companies House, Newcastle City Council, NHSScotland, Norfolk Constabulary, Edge Hill University, WH Smith, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aer Lingus, National Express Group, DFS, Liverpool FC, Goodwood, CIPD and RSPB.
Advanced Business Solutions is a division of Advanced Computer Software Group Limited, a leading supplier of software and IT services to the health, care and business services sectors. In 2014, the Group won Tech Company of the Year in PwC's UK Tech Awards. Advanced was also ranked in the Deloitte UK Fast 50, which recognises the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK and ranked in the top 300 technology companies in Deloitte's EMEA rankings.