"I'm very pleased with the service that Access IT provide, our internal IT organisation is very fragile, it relies on a young lad who's at university, and the accounts manager who's part time IT manager so we are very dependent on, on Access IT and so far they've delivered the goods!"
Transcript: Pilgrims Hospices
John Cooper, Cheif Executive (ret.), Pilgrims Hospices,
talks to Jane Chakravorty, Access IT Ltd
JC "Pilgrims Hospice have provided an invaluable service for the people of Kent since 1982, but it wasn't until 2000 that you had become self sufficient regarding your computer system. What prompted that move?
John Cooper "Our system was an out station on a Chartered Accountants specialist network in Canterbury and we were conscious that that was coming to the end of its life and we were going to have to do something different. So, we were very keen that we should have a system that was almost the industry standard based on Microsoft software that our users would be quite familiar with, um, so we went out to tender to a number of different companies."
JC "I see. Initially you invited four different companies to tender, what made you choose Access IT?"
John Cooper " Well, I think that they sold the product very well, um, they were quite clear how much it was going to cost, it was quite clear the on-going running costs that we'd incur with the system, um, and they were very competitive financially. The price was right. They weren't necessarily the cheapest, but in my judgment, and in the judgment of the IT consultants who advised me, they provided the best value for money."
JC "One of the aspects that we enjoyed was supporting the Hospice through the first wobbly weeks after installation, did you find that approach helpful?"
John Cooper "It's the biggest, it's the most worrying project that I've done in my twelve years at the Hospice, because IT is not something that I'm very familiar with,and nor did I have any support from within the Hospice in terms of expertise, so I was entirely dependent on outside support. I think that the really encouraging thing was that I don't think that we did have a wobbly week it went remarkably well, the project was completed on time, in budget."
JC "You wanted a complete office system networked across your three sites in Canterbury, Margate and Ashford, with email and internet access too. On top of that you have a variety of people who need to use the system, from Doctors and medical secretaries, Chaplains, volunteers and many others."
John Cooper "I think it works very well, and actually, another group of people you haven't mentioned is the patients, because we now use our system in all the day Hospices where patients can access information about their illness on the internet and on specialist sites. So it is very widely used, and it's very user friendly, and I think the thing that was interesting was that in the early days, there were all the people who you would expect to use it, like secretaries, and the administrators, but more and more, ah, others like counsellors, the social workers and Chaplains became enthusiastic about the use of the system, so it is now very widely used and we have got over 60 users, 60 work stations across three sites."
JC "A major concern of yours was that as Access IT grows, you may lose personal contact. Since our first contact, Access IT has indeed doubled in size, but have your fears been realised?
John Cooper "Not so far! I'm very pleased with the service that Access IT provide, our internal IT organisation is very fragile, it relies on a young lad who's at university, and the accounts manager who's part time IT manager so we are very dependent on, on Access IT and so far they've delivered the goods!"
JC "excellent, thank you very much indeed John."
John Cooper "Thank you"
Access IT would like to thank John Cooper for giving his valuable time.
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