Essex Medical and Forensic Services Ltd (EMFS) has installed an IP telephony system from Avaya Inc. (NYSE) at its headquarters in Shalford, Essex that is helping the organization deliver critical healthcare services to police forces in four counties in eastern England.  The new solution is enabling EMFS to respond to growing demand while making dramatic improvements in response times.

 

“If the police have a person with a medical condition, they outsource care to us,” said Steve Roberts, business director, EMFS.  “We needed a small but sophisticated call centre to receive and track requests so we can deliver the medical attention required.”

 

After evaluating several options, EMFS selected a communication solution from Avaya, a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.  Now, EMFS uses their new Avaya IP Office solution to track calls, quickly dispatch medical personnel, and accurately report response times to police authorities.

 

Installed for EMFS by Avaya BusinessPartner Mayflower PLC, Avaya IP Office is a secure, intelligent and easy-to use converged voice and data system for small and medium businesses.  IP Office works as both a traditional phone system and an IP telephony server, features built-in contact centre and communications software, and supports both single locations and multisite networks. Avaya has sold more than 85,000 IP Office systems to customers worldwide.

 

EMFS has improved the service it delivers by integrating Avaya IP Office with a Microsoft™ Dynamics CRM application used to manage the company’s customer database.  Each police station is given a unique telephone number to dial for assistance, helping employees easily identify who is calling.  The same numbers also trigger automatic screen pops from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application, providing agents with the data they need to manage calls effectively and determine the best available resource to assist.  They can even transfer incoming calls directly to the company’s roving forensic medical examiners, regardless of where they travel.

 

EMFS has aggressive service delivery agreements with the organizations it supports – a one-hour response for urgent cases and a two-hour response for non-urgent care.

 

To document performance, members of the company’s medical team call into the IP Office voicemail system to record the time they arrive for an appointment and the time they leave.  With all incoming calls and response times logged by IP Office, EMFS is able to easily generate the reports it needs to document compliance with customer contracts.

 

“Our incoming calls can be extremely complicated,” Roberts said.  “Now, with the solution from Avaya, we’ve been able to log, track and improve our call handling times by more than two minutes per call which represents several hours per month saved speeding up the despatch of the relevant medical professional. The systems provide us with timely information to report back on our service delivery levels.”

 

An integrated voice recording capability from Avaya DeveloperConnection member Weston Digital Technologies has proved to be vital to EMFS – providing an audit trail of all calls and a voice record of all exams in case the information is needed as evidence in court.

 

With the remote access capabilities of IP Office, employees are able to work remotely if needed, helping the company maintain around-the-clock coverage.  In addition, Roberts is able to administer the system securely from home or the road using his laptop computer.

 

“We have achieved significant growth in less than a year, and Avaya IP Office has always been reliable and flexible enough to meet our ever increasing demands,” Roberts said. 

 

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500^®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.  Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications — and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services — Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.

 

About Mayflower PLC
Mayflower Plc is one of the leading independent suppliers of business telephone systems and telephone applications in the United Kingdom and takes advantage of being independent of any one manufacturer. This enables the company to provide the right solution to its customers whatever their requirements, both now and in the future.
 
Mayflower has been established since 1987, and celebrates 20 years servicing its customers. Mayflower have been at the forefront of the telecommunications market since the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry. Originally a sales-only organisation, Mayflower has grown organically and now offers pre-sales consultations, installation, implementation with full project management, and both field-based and in-house maintenance support as part of a comprehensive list of services to its loyal customer base. For more information visit the Mayflower website: http://www.mayflowerplc.com/.

 

About Essex Medical
Essex Medical and Forensic Services Ltd (EMFS) is an innovative, comprehensive and quality-driven organisation providing outsourced medical and clinical forensic services to the police in the east of England. The company was formed in May 2004 to provide medical services to detainees in police custody.  EMFS dispatches doctors, nurses, and paramedics to police authorities when detainees need medical attention.  To learn more visit. www.emfs-ltd.co.uk.