Healthcare: The Issue - Retrieval and Accuracy

Not only did the hospital have a serious issue with space, but on top of it, they also did not have the additional staff needed to weed through all the files they were storing on site. It quickly became apparent that extra space was desperately needed.

Whilst files were not ‘lost’, it was becoming increasingly difficult to operate within the confines of their existing facilities and great concern was raised at the potential for errors to occur. Time was wasted picking through files to identify the ones that were required and as a result, morale was suffering.

The Solution

Crown’s proposal was to work with the customer to identify those items that were less frequently accessed, in order to remove them from site, freeing up space to enable medical records personnel to operate more efficiently.

Crown provided a managed team to work within the facilities of the hospital. This team went through an audit of the files, identifying those that could be transferred off-site and re-tracking and moving files internally. They also reorganized the internal stores to provide easier access for new items.

Files were placed into cartons for transfer to Crown and a full inventory of all items in each box was created and given to the customer.

The Service

The service operates on a standard request today for delivery tomorrow basis, for individual files. To support this, an Express and Emergency service is also offered to enable instant access to documentation.

In addition, a formal destruction review program is in place that ensures that documentation is stored for the statutory retention period. This is carefully managed between Crown and the client to make sure that the ‘paper mountain’ is kept under control.

On a regular basis, Crown provides teams to weed and remove files to continually create more space in an ever-increasing volume of files.

Real Benefits

Crown has enabled the client to resolve the serious space issues that they had. We have assisted in helping them formalize their retention policy and program. Most significantly, their employees now have an up-to-date file store that allows them room to work.

Improved efficiencies and better working conditions have combined to increase the morale of the staff and create a happier working environment.