Gary Adams, Head of Digital Operations at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust, talked us through its recent digital transformation.
Q What prompted the shift toward rethinking your contact centre and digital capabilities at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust?
GA: At the beginning of 2024, we were told that the lease on the building that housed our Care Coordination Hub was ending. That gave us just three months to find a new home and a replacement for the legacy telephony system that was tied to that location. The Hub is a vital frontline service that patients call into, so this wasn’t just a matter of moving desks. Rather than treat it as just a logistical problem, we viewed it as an opportunity to modernise and improve how we support patient care more broadly.
Q What were your key requirements and thought process when selecting a new contact centre solution?
GA: Ultimately, we needed something flexible and cost-effective that could be deployed on an incredibly tight timeline. My goal was to improve operational efficiency without disrupting patient services, a complete non-negotiable for us. In a publicly funded organisation, value for money is always a key driver, and we wanted to make sure that any investment supported front-line care directly.
RingCentral’s RingCX stood out because it met all our requirements, and we were also reassured by industry analyst evaluations showing it was a market leader. Having worked with several major IVR and contact centre providers before, RingCX was the only one that gave me confidence that we could meet our deadlines and still deliver long-term value.
Q Were there any disruptions to patient services during the transition, and if so, how did you manage this?
GA: Amazingly, no. Everything was going so smoothly that I worried something had to go wrong at some point, but it never did. The transition was seamless, and services continued without disruption. We had 100 users relying on the system as their primary way of communicating with patients, and we couldn’t afford any downtime.
Everything was accounted for, and services continued without interruption. From day one, staff were able to work from any location, whether a Trust site or from home, which gave us incredible flexibility without sacrificing performance or availability.
Q What impact has the new system had so far?
GA: Over a year on, the positive results are clear. We’ve seen a 30% reduction in call wait times, which is a significant improvement for patient experience. Operational visibility has also doubled, giving us far greater insight into how the service is performing and where we can make improvements.
One of the biggest advantages is our ability to manage the system internally. Previously, even small changes would require an external service request and then a long wait, sometimes months. Now, we can make changes internally ourselves. For instance, at the very beginning, we built and deployed a special service that helped keep 15 patients out of the hospital on day one. That level of responsiveness just wasn’t possible before.
Q How is the new system supporting your long-term digital goals?
GA: This product wasn’t just about replacing a telephony system; it’s truly become the foundation for our broader digital transformation. We started with voice, but now we’re looking to bring in other channels like SMS, email and even social media, all within the same platform.
At the same time, we’re very mindful that not all our patients are comfortable with digital tools. We need to balance innovation with accessibility. With RingCX, we can expand capabilities without forcing change on patients who aren’t ready for it.
We also no longer have to rely on a supplier to do everything for us. We can adapt and optimise in real time, and that’s changed how we think about what’s possible with technology in a healthcare setting.
