Micad says its software systems generated considerable interest at this year’s HefmA exhibition, with particular attention being given to its new Help Desk and Room Booking and Utilisation Software.
The company adds: “In addition, and in response to the NHS estate’s current changing face, demand for the Micad Internet Property Register (IPR) remains high. Over 50 % of NHS Trusts now use Micad to assist in the management of their estates and property maintenance.”
The company continues: “Space in the NHS has been treated as ‘free’ for a generation, i.e. ‘if it is there and unused, just stake a claim’. However this attitude is now unsustainable. With the reorganisation of the national estate, the need for space information has never been at such a premium. Even where up-to-date drawings are available and space data is known, there is now a new set of space parameters emerging that need addressing in order to successfully plan a revised estate. Enter ‘room timetabling’ and ‘departmental cross-charging’ – words that seem to send a shockwave through those that have ridden the wave of a laissez-faire attitude towards ‘free space’, but music to the ears of financial controllers. Whether healthcare personnel like it or not, the notion of timetabling and charging for space is here to stay.”
Micad’s Room Utilisation Module (RUM), which the company began engineering three years ago ‘as a bespoke solution’ to address such issues, enables the timetabling, booking, and departmental cross-charging, of space, via mapping out of:
• Sessional requirements, for both recurring & non-recurring booking e.g. clinics.
• Dedicated space, such as operating theatres and dentists’ rooms.
• Permanently allocated space, e.g. cellular offices.
• ‘Hot-desking / ‘hoteling’, i.e. timetabled individual workplaces.
Using space records driven by Micad’s Internet Property Register (IPR), the RUM ‘allows all such space requirements to be planned out for each building’, quickly identifying and allocating ‘unused’ space, and increasing utilisation. ‘Opportunity space’, such as that made available via extended holidays and sickness, can also be identified and allocated’.
Micad says: “This visibility can be viewed by the system administrator in a traditional timetable view, or even via a CAD plan, where bookings are graphically represented using colour to identify booked or non-allocated space. Booking requests can be applied for via a simple request search that can be posted on the Trust’s Intranet. The request details are e-mailed directly to the accommodation managers, who can choose to allocate space, and confirm the booking. This is an entirely automated process.”
Bookings can include departmental charges, exceptions, and room associations, where additional space may be required at the point of booking.
The RUM also caters for bespoke Terms & Conditions that can be set in line with a Trust’s accommodation policy, while a fully user-definable audit facility enables checking, validating, and reporting on, the on-site ‘live’ status of bookings.
Micad adds: “With utilisation rates in many Trust departments below 50%, and the cost of space ranging from £200-£1,200 /m2 / annum, the potential payback through greater utilisation is significant. However, it is not just via greater use and patient throughput that space can generate increased revenue; payback is s also achievable via estate rationalisation.”
For more information, contact Micad. T: 0161 927 9573, or e-mail: info@micad.co.uk
