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Oxford University Hospital

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The Challenge

The decision to relocate the central HR function to new premises in Cowley, Oxford, made digitising all hardcopy files a pressing requirement.

OUH employs around 13,000 full and part-time personnel. At any given time there are also around 2,000 interim, honorary, affiliated and observing specialist staff. Both were on and off the Trust’s payroll, and each employees details were stored within the HR record system. Ensuring records stay accessible yet compliant was a huge challenge.

“The office move was the key driver to digitise all HR records,” said Caroline Davies, Interim Head of Recruitment & Retention at OUH.

“We had 130 five and six drawer filing cabinets including a large ‘pod’ in the car park which housed files that needed to be archived or securely destroyed. Both the time and effort required to physically move them, as well as space required for storage, were impractical, which is why we secured approval to go to tender and commence the digitisation project.” Caroline added.

The Solution

There were around 13,000 files, each with multiple pages that needed to be digitised.

Once captured, all of the digital documents were fed into Folding Space’s ERDMS (Electronic Record & Document Management System). This secure document and records management solution uniquely enables the viewing and presentation of all documents in a single screen user experience.

After the initial digitisation project, we implemented a process of ‘day forward scanning’, whereby you scan everything from that day forward using powerful scanners and convert to an electronic format. This enabled the HR team to seamlessly capture documents as they come in, and upload them directly into the ERDMS.

The Results

  • The HR function are close to achieving a paper free environment.
  • The general recruitment and medical staffing teams are trained to use the powerful Kodak Alaris wireless scanners to provide additional resource.
  • Recruitment is conducted electronically and for new starters only two physical paper forms are created.
  • Time and cost savings have been significant. Previously if a file was needed, it would have been securely couriered over, or a staff member would collect and drop off.
  • The Trust has secured significant financial savings, through reducing printing costs and spend of reams of paper.
  • The Trust is now looking to roll out the initiative across a further nine directorates.

“Now the entire team can simply log on to the system and retrieve the information they need at any time. With mobile scanners easy to use, and everyone loving the system.”

“We are confident that the return on investment on this initiative will be very strong.” Caroline Davies, Interim Head of Recruitment & Retention at Oxford University Hospital

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