Jacqui: We don't know when that phone goes, what we're getting. It could be somebody who has fallen and hurt their leg, or it could be a mum with a baby with breathing difficulties.
Fiona: NHS 24 is Scotland's National Digital Health Service. It provides access to care and information for the people of Scotland.
Jacqui: We have to be up 24 7 and with 99.9% reliability.
Fiona: My role is to ensure the system supports operational workflows but also is clinically safe.
Fiona: That's been a big part of my role is ensuring that what is built supports safe care.
Fiona: The legacy system was becoming very aged and it was difficult to make changes.
Jacqui: Patching systems is a very difficult thing to do because what you've not got is safety guards that help guide our staff, our call handlers, and our clinicians through that patient journey.
Fiona: Staff often had to go back and forth or work around things, rather than the system working with them.
Jacqui: We were at a point in time where we had to procure a new system to be able to provide a stable, secure, and really importantly, a clinically safe platform for our patients to access.
Jacqui: Working with Pega, AWS, and Coforge have helped us design an intuitive system, so our staff are not focused on the system, but are focused on the patient to ensure that they get the right care.
Fiona: There is more guidance. It leads them through the call. So less bottlenecks, less having to stop and seek support.
Jacqui: The new system, it has really effective guardrails in place so that our staff are able to navigate through that system seamlessly.
Jacqui: If I look at our average handling time for our patients, we've seen that reduced by 10 minutes. We can deal with more patients. And dealing with more patients helps the whole system in Scotland because they're then able to better navigate their needs for urgent and unscheduled care.
Fiona: By being able to adapt and change things very quickly, that's proven there is obviously the ability to change and put things in place, to make things safe. That's what's given me confidence.
Fiona: It is that continuous improvement and striving to do the best we can to provide the most efficient and effective care we can.
Jacqui: If I reflect back on our journey to deliver our digital transformation program, it has been nothing shy of remarkable.
