“Wallchart® provided us with a streamlined booking system that meets the needs of a modernised Education and Research Centre."
– Karin Jackson, Directorate Manager, Education and Research, The Royal Hospitals
A busy teaching hospital demands a booking system that is accurate, flexible and easy to use. As part of The Royal Hospitals – one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK – The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, is no exception.
Last year, the hospital’s Education and Research Centre was extensively refurbished to incorporate new lecture theatres and seminar rooms, a clinical skills room and an IT suite.
These refurbished facilities are in addition to staff being the booking authority for 14 seminar rooms and two other lecture theatres. Not surprisingly, demand for training facilities with specific technology and catering capabilities, often at a moment’s notice, is high.
Directorate staff soon realised that their former diary-based booking system couldn’t provide the level of service needed.
“We approached Wallchart®, and asked them to conduct a feasibility study to see if their system would be appropriate for our needs,” said office manager Colette McDonald. “We gave them examples of our most common booking requests and enquiries, and from that they recommended a solution.”
Wallchart®’s electronic booking software ran off the main server, was compatible with the existing PCs, and the software was easy to set up and even easier to learn.
Over a year later, and the centre is still delighted with Wallchart®’s streamlined, computerised booking system. The benefits are clear. They can book and amend reservations accurately and quickly. They can monitor utilisation at a glance. The software can absorb complex information and can cope with constant changes. Plus it can easily be accessed by any number of staff.
“Wallchart® is an easily managed and viewed booking system,” said Colette. “It has been a vast improvement to the way we run the centre. It’s fair to say that it has improved our working practices ten-fold.”
