When Jannette Booij became director at Huize Rosa, she found an outdated ICT environment that needed some work. In PQR, she found a partner to help get the basics back in order and realize healthcare dreams by improving current ICT services.
About Huize Rosa
Huize Rosa is a small-scale care provider with a broad district-based offering in elder care. It provides assisted living and nursing care, home care and wellness services to residents and frail elderly. She does this both to the elderly in the care center on Rosa de Limastraat in Nijmegen and in a number of nearby apartment buildings and in the neighborhood. Huize Rosa has over 240 employees and about 60 volunteers. These offer person-centered care at the nicest small healthcare organization in Nijmegen.
Huize Rosa’s IT challenges
Jannette Booij has worked at Huize Rosa since September 2020. She is ultimately responsible as a director and – together with the management team – leads the organization. Jannette: “In my working life I have had ICT in my portfolio from the beginning. When I came here, I was naturally curious what I would find. ICT can contribute to job satisfaction and help people work smarter and more efficiently. That was not yet the reality at Huize Rosa.”
Further research revealed that the list of ICT bottlenecks was long. Little had been invested or done to keep up with the times. WiFi coverage was inadequate and, in addition, the two main software packages were “end of life.” A complicating factor was the historically complex organization of ICT. The owner and landlord of the relatively new building was responsible for wifi, alarms and telephony. Huize Rosa was responsible for the infrastructure and hardware. Support for this was then provided for both by the same third party. The contracts were not in sync and thus resolving the bottlenecks became complicated.
The choice of PQR
Jannette Booij: “For me, it was understandable that the users were dissatisfied. And that a plan was needed to be ready for the future. I asked the ICT company we were working with to develop an advice and ICT roadmap for us. When I still had not received that after 9 months, I started looking for another party.”
After a broad search and several exploratory talks, Huize Rosa chose PQR with conviction. Jannette Booij: “For me, it was very important that they knew the healthcare industry, listened carefully to our wishes and were able to respond quickly. In these exploratory talks, PQR has already been more collaborative and offered solutions than other parties we had been doing business with for a long time.”
The ‘care dreams’ of Huize Rosa
Huize Rosa has a clear vision of care: the basis is living pleasure and well-being of the clients and residents. In short: Huize Rosa aims to provide good person-centered care with the resources available. Jannette Booij: “We want to be the ‘nicest small care facility of Nijmegen’ for clients, residents and employees. ICT is extremely important in a residential group, for example. It must work quickly and be reliable for alarms and the ECD, among other things. For care at the bedside, ICT must be an aid, not a hindrance, which it was in the past. Our ICT vision for the future is: ‘From workload to job satisfaction’. I want our people to be happy again with ICT, because it simply works and makes life easier. As natural as water from the tap.”
PQR ‘s approach;
Based on the existing situation and future vision of Huize Rosa, PQR created a multi-year plan including priorities, planning and budgets. This included identifying which investments could be deferred. Initially, replacing the ECD was one of the highest priorities. After contacting the supplier, it turned out that an upgrade was possible for a limited amount of money, which Huize Rosa could use for a while longer. When it finally became apparent that this upgrade was not going to be available after all, PQR helped expedite and carefully make a decision for a new ECD.
The starting point was a “mobile first” strategy so that caregivers could do as much as possible at the bedside. This required replacing the Wi-Fi network. Jannette Booij: “PQR proceeded very energetically, Immediately after placing the order for the new Wi-Fi environment, they ordered the products needed for it. That network is essential, because that will be the basis for rolling everything out. With smartphones for telephony and alarms, instead of outdated DECT phones. People get really happy about this, they really step into the 21e century. A good example: in the past, they had a notepad by the client’s bedside to write things down and they had to type that up on a “thin client” in the living room. With the right ICT, employees can now spend more time caring. So basically: just doing their job nicely.”
The experience with PQR
Jannette Booij: “The experiences with PQR are very good. With our IT strategic advisor from PQR we have a relationship of trust, it is someone who is really on our side of the table. He speaks our language and interacts as easily with the Board of Directors as he does with the landlord of our building and our users. For me, he is a reliable partner who is knowledgeable and committed.
I find that commitment and accessibility characteristic of PQR, by the way. The way they work and their core values align perfectly with our vision. They really give personal attention and are incredibly committed, even in their directorial role to other IT parties we work with.
PQR helps us to innovate and, in addition to the expertise available, is very strong in the translation to healthcare practice. They understand how important ICT is to us; after all, we are a 24×7 company. In our partnership, we are making very big strides together toward our beckoning perspective.”
Next steps
Initially, PQR worked mainly on the prerequisites and technological basis such as devices, applications, the telephone system and the network. Jannette Booij: “For care innovation, you need a solid ICT foundation. Now is the time for Huize Rosa to further invest in our healthcare dreams: ICT to organize care smarter, to do more with the same people. After all, that is the task in elder care. And PQR’s IT strategy consultant is the program manager of our digital transition. I am extremely happy that PQR is helping us realize our vision for care.”