As of April 6th, 2009, after much anticipation, four-digit dialing amongst the HPHA sites will be available. This project involved collaboration between the Huron Perth Enterprise IT Service (HPEITS), Alliance staff from all sites and Bell Canada.   Over an 18 month period, all Alliance sites were upgraded to cutting-edge Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone systems. The decision to transition to new VoIP phone systems  was centered largely around the need to lower long-term support costs and the ability to enact toll-avoidance.  By dialing direct to another extension within the Alliance, the hospitals will achieve cost-savings that can be better directed towards enhancing patient care.  “Staff will find that only having to dial 4 digits to any of the Alliance sites will make their work day easier. By using either the MOX or MyAlliance directories, everyone in the Alliance will be able to connect to any person or department easily.”  says Pat Klumper, Operations Telecom Specialist.

In addition to this, HPEITS is reviewing strategies that would allow for staff who work at multiple Alliance sites to consolidate their voicemail into one mailbox.  “Technology that we can leverage to help our staff become more productive is the type of technology that HPEITS is focusing on.” states John Brennan, IT Director.  “The more we can simplify our IT offerings, the more time staff will have to focus on quality of patient care.”