Nuffield hospitals, the UK 's longest-standing group of independent hospitals, is further streamlining its procurement processes and will make significant savings by implementing Version One's electronic form design, automated document delivery and electronic payment technologies. These technologies, which are integrated into Nuffield's Lawson system, are currently being implemented across all 40 hospitals.
Nuffield has designed its own purchase orders and remittance advices and will electronically deliver them directly from its Lawson procurement and finance system. By a touch of a button, directly from the desktop, the documents will be emailed out or automatically sent to the recipient's fax machine. In addition, payments to suppliers will be made electronically using Version One's BACS-IP module.
These electronic processes will replace Nuffield's manual processes, which involve signing and posting cheques with hard-copy remittance advices, and the printing-out and faxing of purchase orders. With Version One's technologies in place, the time it takes for Nuffield to make 800 payments and send out 800 remittance advices and 800 purchase orders every day will be cut dramatically. Printing, stationery and postage costs will also be reduced, making significant savings year on year.
Nuffield's decision to implement Version One's 'paperless technology' software followed-on from its selection of Lawson's system for use across all 40 hospitals. "We identified the need for electronic document management technologies that could tightly integrate into our new Lawson system, further streamlining our processes and saving us time and money. The savings of time will allow skilled staff to be redeployed so that they can focus on activities where they can add value," explains Matt Oxley, Associate Director, Procurement and Property from Nuffield Hospitals.
Version One's solutions were selected due to the company's extensive experience integrating with Lawson software, its large customer base in the healthcare sector and the fact that it could provide all the technologies Nuffield required. "The last thing we wanted was to work with four different providers!" says Oxley.
"As a modern and forward-thinking organisation, we are always looking at ways to further streamline our processes whilst making substantial cost and efficiency savings. Version One's technologies, which are an integral part of a modern ERP system, will help Nuffield stay ahead of the competition," adds Oxley.
Related FSN articles
How document management can revolutionise the ‘purchase-to-pay' cycle
