Health Board saves costs with new phone deal

Tuesday, 7 October 2008, 9:51 am
Press Release: Vodafone

Media Release

7 October 2008

Waikato District Health Board improves services and saves costs with new phone deal
 

Enabling clients to contact its community workers wherever they are and reducing costs are just two of the ways the Waikato District Health Board will benefit from a new contract with Vodafone to provide its fixed line and mobile telephone services.

According to Waikato District Health Board chief executive Craig Climo, providing flexibility so services can be either centralised or decentralised is a key advantage of the new two-year deal.  The Vodafone solution enables Waikato DHB to move services to the location with the most appropriate resources rather than the cheapest calling rates.

“We want to ensure that our clients can reach our staff when they are on the move – without the expense of having to call a mobile. Vodafone is providing local calling numbers so key staff can be reached on their mobile,” said Mr Climo.

For Vodafone, the new deal builds on a five-year relationship with Waikato DHB –Waikato’s biggest employer with more than 5500 health professionals and support staff and serves a population of more than 342,000 people across one tenth of the country.

Vodafone Regional Sales Manager Graham Mearns says their five-year relationship led to some great innovations.

“Picture messaging to assist during trauma situations to help save lives and using mobile devices for diabetes management were among the outcomes of the partnership between Waikato District Health Board and Vodafone mobile.

“We are delighted that Waikato DHB has now recognised Vodafone’s ability to be its total telecommunications provider,” he said.

The new contract follows a robust evaluation process of several suppliers, involving Audit New Zealand.

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