Tracey Sopp, Managing Director of NTW Solutions visited the central switchboard based at St Nicholas hospital in Gosforth and she saw how this busy team handles not just a huge call volume but carries out a range of other tasks. They handle all incoming external calls and those from across our sites when local receptions are closed.
A central function of the switchboard is to answer calls, and they answer hundreds of thousands of calls a year, with a target of answering them within 15 seconds, which the service almost always meets. They handle a range of calls, including people calling to arrange taxis, people asking to speak to services, calls for internal departments such as digital services or workforce, as well as calls from the public, including people who may be in significant distress.
What people probably don’t know is that there are a range of systems based in the switchboard which they have to deal with. The alarms for the boilers at St Nicholas hospital, the Ferndene generator, Pharmacy fridges, various security alarms on different sites, IT server temperature alarms, as well as fire alarms for almost all our main sites report into the switchboard as well.
The switchboard at St Nicholas is integrated with the reception and the switchboard is in a room just behind it. Staff can operate between the switchboard and reception and therefore become the face of the site, acting in a meet and greet capacity for anybody visiting the reception. This involves a range of tasks including giving directions and signing out keys.
The staff balance out the different tasks and sometimes have to prioritise, for example if a fire alarm is activated and the staff are working through the process for dealing with that, it may take longer to answer some calls. The switchboard is not a finite resource and if it is possible for you to find a phone number yourself then people are encouraged to do so, to ensure that staff are available for any urgent calls they might be needed for.
The team rely on various systems, including the contact cards, as well as the Rota Watch system which allows them to get in touch with relevant people when calls come in. Please help them to make sure these are always up to date. The switchboard at St Nicholas hospital is a 24 hour a day 365 days a year service, and takes over switchboard duties from receptions on sites where the staffing there is not 24 hours.
The staff told Tracey that they enjoy their jobs and like the variety of the role, when the phone rings you never know what the call is going to involve it could be anything from a straightforward transfer through to a complicated issue. They said that whilst they always hope none of the alarms will go off during a shift, it does get the adrenaline running when a fire alarm is activated and they work through the procedure to sort that. The job is rewarding and each member of staff told Tracey they could remember examples where they went home and felt that they had been able to help somebody during the day.
