New NHS, but with a continued focus on quality and patient safety

Today is a landmark for our many customers and friends working across the NHS. The much debated health reforms have arrived, and the way healthcare is delivered in England today is fundamentally different to the way it was yesterday.

For a number of healthcare professionals and patients accessing services, the changes may not be obvious on the surface. Many people are working in the same buildings, but maybe with a different sign over the door.

However, the structure of the NHS has changed beyond recognition. In some ways it will intensify the NHS modernisation agenda that we have been supporting for a number of years. We are confident that the drive for greater quality and improved patient safety in pathology will continue, and we look forward to helping to position logistics at the heart of the drive for innovation and better use of technology.

This issue was highlighted at a debate we sponsored earlier this year, which asked the question, can automation in pathology can ever become a reality? The debate chair, Health Service Journal editor Alastair McClellan, said in his view, pathology is at the vanguard for how modernisation will impact support organisations in and around the NHS.

This has certainly been our experience. The introduction of PathTrak, our secure GPS track and trace system for patient specimen collection and delivery management, has done more than improve pathology logistics. The planning and processes needed to deliver quality can often highlight inefficiency and potential problems in the wider clinical support organisation.

For example, one Trust we support discovered that nearly one quarter of samples from theatre were being delayed on route to the pathology courier, but nobody knew where. PathTrak is now being used to help identify the source of the delays, and will contribute to a solution being put in place.

We are very conscious that this is an extremely unsettling time for people in the NHS. At CitySprint Healthcare, we will be increasing our efforts to ensure we are aligned to support the new structures. The drive for focused, efficient and safer pathology logistics continues.

Andy Turner
CitySprint Healthcare Director
07989 857 816

Collaboration nation

The Chancellor’s done it. In his Budget, he pledged support for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by reducing employers’ NI contributions.

But, guess what? SMEs are doing a lot for themselves anyway. This week we’re publishing our Collaborate UK report. It brings encouraging news about how SMEs – the backbone of the UK economy - are adapting the way they work to make themselves stronger in the face of economic decline.

The headline is that these businesses are increasingly working together. The report surveyed 700 SMEs of which nearly a quarter said they were more open to collaboration now than they were before the downturn. And one in eight said they’d consider working with a competitor if there were a business benefit. 

The findings - and there a lots of them – reveal a new breed of “size zero” businesses up and down the country which are embracing outsourcing, exchanging services and sharing experience so they can focus on their strengths and reduce costs. More businesses, it seems, are becoming leaner and smarter.

We hear these stories on a daily basis when we’re travelling the length and breadth of the UK to deliver our services, and the report gives these anecdotes credence.

I think the messages in the report are very encouraging and I hope they can help other businesses understand the benefit of the ‘together we’re stronger’ approach.

I’ll certainly be taking some lessons away from the report in terms of how CitySprint can do things differently. And I look forward to seeing how businesses continue to build these relationships and expand their networks over the coming months.

Patrick Gallagher

Chief Executive of CitySprint (UK) Limited

Delivery from your pocket makes sense

The rapid progress and adoption of smart technology into everyday lives never ceases to amaze me - not even a decade ago, we were playing snake on our Nokia’s and now we can transfer money, book flights, shop and network all from the palm of our hands.

And no longer is this smart technology the privilege of ‘techies’ or the well off as having a smartphone or tablet is increasingly becoming the new norm (according to Ofcom’s latest figures, 58% of the UK population own a smartphone and 19% own a tablet device).

Today your smartphone or tablet becomes even more powerful as we launch the first ever same day courier booking and tracking app, MyCourier. 

The new app, available to download from Apple’s App Store today, is the first to allow both our account and non-account holders to access all of CitySprint’s services including quotes, booking and live tracking of deliveries, all from the palm of their hand.

As we all look to technology to make our lives even easier, at home and in the office, creating an app which allows people to access the UK’s largest same day courier network, was a no brainer for CitySprint. It’s a really exciting industry development and we look forward to delivering our first app jobs today!

Patrick Gallagher
Chief Executive of CitySprint (UK) Limited

Delivering the vision of modern pathology

On 14th January 2013, we hosted our first pathology debate with a panel of key industry experts. It seemed timely to be discussing how we can make end-to-end automation in pathology a reality. With the Department of Health calling for a paperless NHS and the pathology reconfiguration in the East of England, we’re likely to see dramatic changes in laboratory services over the coming years. 

As a logistics company specialising in transport across a number of sectors, we’ve been able to look at the challenges facing NHS pathology from a different perspective. We’ve always understood that healthcare is different. But we’ve been able to look at reconfiguration from a practical quality and efficiency point of view.    

The starting point for much of our work with the NHS is mapping routes and workflow. This means being a little dispassionate about the bricks and mortar that have traditionally housed parts of the NHS. We understand and respect the deep-felt feelings people have for their local services. But we have to look at what will create the safest and most efficient pathology logistics to support patient and service needs now, and into the future.

Once the workflow is understood, technology applied in the appropriate way can transform pathology services. Laboratories that are able to prioritise deliveries and specific testing requirements can process more samples. GPs can offer patients greater flexibility in phlebotomy services. Samples can be tracked en route and everybody in the system – from the phlebotomist to the laboratory – has the reassurance provided by an electronic audit trail that bleed-to-test times are being met.

This is an example of where automation, and removing the paper systems such as those highlighted by the Secretary of State for Health, can make genuine improvements to delivery of the services patients receive.

We understand that logistics are only one piece of the pathology jigsaw. But we also know that we can offer more than trained, accredited drivers and specialised vehicles. By applying proven technology and approaches from other sectors where we transport important goods, we can help the NHS move forward in this critical part of the service.

And perhaps we can play our small part in helping to deliver the vision of modern pathology as outlined by Lord Carter of Coles.

Andrew Turner

CitySprint Healthcare Director 

07989 857 816

Celebrating 100 years of medical research excellence

This month the Medical Research Council(MRC) celebrates 100 years as one of the world’s most prestigious scientific organisations.  Back in 1913, the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council was formed, which then went on to become what we now know as the MRC.

With our modern perspective of medicine, it’s difficult to imagine the devastation caused by diseases in the early twentieth century. The origins of the MRC are rooted in the need to overcome tuberculosis – then one of the UK’s most urgent health problems.

Since that time, the MRC has gone on to improve (and sometimes transform) human health, not just in the UK, but worldwide. The organisation now supports nearly 6,000 research staff either directly, or through grants and fellowships.

At CitySprint Healthcare we’re proud to play our small part in helping the MRC carry out its research.  For example, we are currently transporting samples on a Leukemia Trial at Guys Hospital, which is funded by the MRC. This is one of many examples of work we are doing for MRC funded projects, which just shows how they are helping our health system to fight diseases.

Our specially trained and accredited logistics teams use a secure GPS track and trace system to ensure clinical trial logistics are delivered to the same high standards as those in the laboratories. Every sample can be planned, tracked and checked against an electronic audit system to ensure it meets the highest level of scrutiny demanded by the global scientific community.

It’s difficult to predict the health problems the MRC will be overcoming in the next 100 years. But at CitySprint Healthcare, we look forward to doing our bit behind the scenes supporting an organisation which represents the very best of British medical science.

Happy Birthday MRC!  

Delivering choice?

As the festive shopping period continues in earnest, I recall an article that I wrote earlier in the year for a leading retail trade publication, citing how important it is for retailers to offer a range of delivery choices to maintain their customers’ loyalty and satisfaction. I went on to ask the question “can we deliver a service fit for a king?” To my frustration and astonishment, flexible delivery options that offer true convenience are still hard to come by.

Back in 2010, I pondered how CitySprint could help. I came to the conclusion that many traditional retailers are not very experienced when it comes to distribution; getting this right, and meeting customer demand for flexible delivery options, would be crucial if they were going to grow their share of the lucrative online shopping market.

It seems to have been only too true when you compare business models such as Comet with the likes of John Lewis at the other end of the spectrum, who truly embraced this challenge. For the same reason, it’s easy to see why many “bricks and mortar” retailers have lost ground to the likes of ASOS and Amazon, who trade on the delivery choice and convenience that they offer.  Personally, I do not see this trend changing in the near future.

Over the next few months, I will be discussing this matter with many retailers and I will be challenging why their distribution strategies have not moved forward. I will ask why they are still not offering the choice of delivery services that their customers obviously want.

I do not see CitySprint as the complete solution; I passionately believe that delivery services such as same day, scheduled and evening delivery through our MyTime offering, are simply choices that should be aligned with every other possible choice, such as next day, Royal Mail, click & collect, delivery to a local store or a secure box and so on.

Delivery choice that enhances the client’s shopping experience needs to be at the core of every retailer’s eCommerce strategy.

If the customer is king, retailers should prove it.

Patrick Gallagher
Chief Executive of CitySprint (UK) Limited

National Pathology Year – November Blood Counts

Events and activities across the country have helped celebrate National Pathology Year, and reinforced the critical role played by the pathology services. November’s theme is Blood Counts, and of all the monthly themes, is probably the one that for many people resonates most.

Patients requiring blood are often on the operating table following an accident or invasive surgery. Survival depends on a number of critical activities falling into place, including the efficient transportation of blood or tissue from the blood bank to treating doctors.

Blood couriers have to be the very best in the logistics business. Every second counts, and time and road conditions often conspire to test even the most experienced driver.

At CitySprint Healthcare, blood transportation is an area in which we take great pride. Our work is diverse, and often requires enormous flexibility. The type of emergency transfusion delivery mentioned above is obviously challenging. We are also increasingly being asked to deliver blood supplies overseas, to places such as Gibraltar, where the logistics become even more complex.

We’re also extremely proud of our work for organisations such as the Anthony Nolan charity, where what we deliver is critical. We help transport the collected blood that would go to waste, take it to the bank and transport it on to the hospitals where patients need it.

When this work is combined with our routine pathology logistics, it’s easy to see why blood is very much at the heart of our healthcare business. For us, November’s Blood Count theme encapsulates the importance of our work and why everyone in the healthcare team feels they are playing a role in the health of the country.

Andy Turner
Healthcare Director