South of Tyne and Wear desk recognised

NHS South of Tyne and Wear has become only the second NHS organisation to receive accreditation from the Service Desk Institute – an organisation that sets global standards for best practice in the sector.

Following in the footsteps of NHS Sutton and Merton, the primary care trust’s service desk received two stars out of a possible five in the Institute’s rating scheme.

The desk is a single point of call for staff with requests or issues with computers, telephones, and other ICT systems.

It provides support to more than 5,500 healthcare workers, including those based in GP surgeries, dental practices and pharmacies.

Associate director of informatics, Darrin Shaw, said the accreditation showed the commitment and hard work of service desk staff.

“It means that we are certified to an internationally recognised standard which marks our commitment to ensuring our users receive the very best service and support.”

NHS South of Tyne and Wear began improving its service desk to meet the standards in January last year, and was ready for the SDI’s four day audit in December.

The SDI commended the high level of commitment from senior staff, effective day-to-day management, strong customer focus, positive responses from users, and very good support of the customer service base.

Service desk manager David Laidler it intends to get a five-star rating eventually. “This is a fantastic achievement and we don’t intend to stop here,” he said. “We’ve indentified further improvements to ensure continuous improvement of the service we provide.”