The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (STH) NHS Foundation Trust has signed a £6m agreement with Xerox to outsource its entire printing infrastructure and thereby gain environmental and cost benefits.
Under the agreement, Xerox will consolidate the 3,200 printing, faxing, copying and scanning output devices of the Trust and place its own staff on site to manage the systems. The Trust expects Xerox to optimise the use of its imaging and printing devices.
Peter Romaine, director and general manager for Xerox Global Services, Xerox UK, said: “Xerox understands the pressures put on organisations like the STH to meet their operational and financial targets. Rather than installing all Xerox products, our role is to optimise and then manage the existing fleet of devices. The Trust will see significant sustainability and cost improvements, allowing for much needed investment in patient care.”
The Trust employees will be able to access the printers from their desktops while the company will provide the users with guides and online toner ordering facilities, to improve efficiencies in the workflow process.
David Whitham, informatics director at the STH, said: “With Xerox’s print management solution we will have greater control over our printing operation. We will know what is being printed, how much it costs and be able to provide our employees with the tools they need to work more productively. Xerox will also help us improve our recycling process by more effectively managing our devices, consumables and disposables.”
Xerox aims to reduce the worker-device ratio at the Trust from the current 3:1 to 5:1 in the first phase. The plan is to bring down the ratio to 10:1 in the long-term. With the move, the Trust is expected to save £1.3m to £3m over a seven-year period.
The STH manages the five NHS adult hospitals in Sheffield — the Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Jessop Wing, Weston Park and Charles Clifford hospitals. It employs over 13,000 personnel.
