Case Study
Baywater Healthcare Improves Service Quality in Outpatient Care with Solvares Field Service
Baywater Healthcare uses VISITOUR for logistics and field service optimisation. Since its launch, the software has significantly improved process efficiency, solved complex scheduling challenges, and simultaneously increased service levels and customer satisfaction, thereby promoting new contract conclusions.
The Company: Hospital at Home Outpatient Care Throughout the UK
Baywater Healthcare is an independent healthcare provider specialising in the care of patients with chronic diseases. The company offers local therapy solutions that combine high-quality care with economic efficiency.
Baywater Healthcare serves over 40,000 patients throughout the UK, working closely with the NHS. The goal is to relieve the burden on the changing healthcare system and support patients to live as mobile, independent, and with a good quality of life as possible.
Complex Scheduling Scenarios
Baywater Healthcare’s services also include the provision and maintenance of oxygen equipment. This results in a variety of tasks for field service technicians, such as equipment installation, modification of equipment according to patient and/or physician requirements, equipment collection, and regular inspections.
In such complex scheduling scenarios with over 100 technicians and a high volume of orders, scheduling and optimisation are (competitive) critical.
The Project: Mastering Logistical Challenges
When the capacity limits of the existing solution were reached, Baywater decided to assemble a project team to best master the logistical challenges in a reactive environment in the future. This project team had the task of identifying and evaluating the best systems available on the market.
VISITOUR quickly made it onto the shortlist, and a two-month test phase under live conditions started promptly. The VISITOUR solution was convincing, and the roll-out for the entire field service department took place within a few weeks.
Strict SLAs between Depot and Patient Visits
“We supply a range of specialist equipment, some of which is used regularly, others less frequently,” reports Craig Lowdon, Customer Services Operations Manager at Baywater Healthcare. “The stock is in our regional depots, but not every part is stored in the vehicles. To ensure that our technicians get what they need, we need to plan both depot visits and patient visits.”
The previous problem: “Our old scheduling solution couldn’t take this into account. Technicians drove to the depot whenever they could fit it in. That wasn’t very efficient. The constant uncertainty as to whether they really had the required equipment with them made it difficult to determine the reasonable workload for the employees.”
All this changed with the implementation of VISITOUR.
Craig Lowdon, Customer Services Operations Manager at Baywater Healthcare, summarises the benefits:
Another important requirement of Baywater is that certain orders must be completed within four hours. Before VISITOUR, Baywater Healthcare’s scheduling team used a kind of ‘cluster’ system. This involved creating a group of postal code areas to which technicians were assigned. This ensured that all technicians in a cluster could reach the patients within four hours if necessary.
Automatic, Efficient Order Assignment with the power to Intervene
However, there was no way for the technicians to travel to orders in another cluster. Every time a technician belonging to another cluster was closer to an order and thus had a better approach position for the order, but could not use this advantage, inefficiency arose.
“Here we see a clear advantage of VISITOUR,” the Customer Services Operations Manager concludes.
No More Operational Headaches
Craig Lowdon adds that VISITOUR can also cleanly solve the scheduling challenge of an unplanned absence of employees: “The result of sick leave used to be operational headaches and typically a lot of overtime. With VISITOUR, we can set employees to ‘unavailable’ and reallocate the work in seconds quickly and optimally.”
The Right Routes
Another central concern of Baywater Healthcare is to ensure that the routes taken by the field operatives are as efficient as possible.
In the past, routes were calculated that, according to Craig Lowdon, Customer Services Operations Manager at Baywater Healthcare, “simply didn’t make sense because only the direct line was calculated. We passed them on to our technicians so that they got a rough overview of the distances. The actual route was then planned by the technicians themselves. That was neither efficient nor optimal.”
Thanks to the introduction of VISITOUR, however, Baywater was able to improve both: “Now we use optimal routes based on the actual road network and the speed profiles of the road types at the respective time of day.”
By using the unique and individually configurable POWEROPT algorithm, VISITOUR optimises order and route planning processes simultaneously. The software decides on the appropriate technician for the respective order as well as the most efficient route.
It also uses data on (historical) speed profiles, traffic, and other variables for the continuous optimisation of appointments. Status changes and ad-hoc requests or disruptions immediately trigger a re-optimisation, so that the route and resource deployment are immediately adapted to the current circumstances.
No More Manual Adjustments
Baywater Healthcare’s previous “cluster” system required constant manual intervention. “Some clusters were allocated disproportionately high percentages of the work, so that many orders had to be redistributed manually. This process took several hours and was highly subjective. It was based solely on the knowledge and consideration of the planning person,” explains Craig Lowdon.
VISITOUR solves this problem by automating the entire employee scheduling process:
Patients and Clinicians Benefit from VISITOUR
VISITOUR contributes significantly to increasing the service level and service quality of Baywater Healthcare. In the past year, the Solvares Field Service solution operationally facilitated the transition from a five-day service to a seven-day service.
In addition, the appointment time slots for patients and clinic staff could be reduced from ten to four hours – thanks to comprehensive Scheduling transparency and a very high degree of accuracy in Route Planning.
“When we couldn’t schedule depot visits and only had point-to-point routes, i.e. A-B routes, we couldn’t say exactly when our technicians would arrive at the patients,” Lowdon recalls.
A Provider That Understands the Customer's Business
Craig Lowdon draws a very positive conclusion about the partnership: “Solvares Field Service has a great team. No one has left since we started in 2016 and each and every one really supports us. The team is available – we reach someone, 24/7 it seems. Most importantly, Solvares Field Service knows and understands how our business works. This enables really strong support that often goes beyond what we expect.”
What You Can Take away from this for your Service
- When depot trips and customer/patient visits are planned together, a realistic, efficient working day is created instead of piecemeal work.
- Real-time optimisation catches unplanned absences or urgent orders in seconds – without overtime and Scheduling chaos.
- Intelligent territory planning makes optimal use of the entire resource pool and reduces empty runs and waiting times.
- Routes based on real traffic and road data make arrival times more reliable and enable significantly smaller time slots.
- Automated route planning noticeably relieves your scheduling –planners take care of exceptions and service quality instead of routine activities.
- Shorter, reliable time slots increase the satisfaction of patients or customers and strengthen your recommendation rate.
Results
- Transparency: Exact Determination of Workloads
- Holistic, Fully Automated Planning of Workdays
- No Additional Effort Due to Unplanned Absences Thanks to Re-Optimisation in Seconds
- Precision and Improved Punctuality Management
- Reduction of Appointment Time Slots for Patients and Clinic Staff from 10 to 4 Hours
- Improved Patient Satisfaction and Increased Recommendation Rate
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