MINI CASE STUDY: Whitstable Medical Practice

PRACTICE: Whitstable Medical Centre
COUNTY: Canterbury and Coastal CCG

Whitstable Medical Practice, comprised of four GP surgeries, currently serves a population of approximately 40,000 patients.

• The surgery is staffed with doctors, nurses and a variety of other healthcare professionals, who provide a full range of medical and services 8am to 8pm, 365 days of the year.

• The equipment that was currently being used within the surgery was old and worn-out, leading to slow, poor-quality printing
• The model also involved a fuser element, which required heat-up time and caused a noticeable delay when printing the first job
• When it came to print consumables, frequent ordering and changes of printer drums and toner cartridges were adding time and costs to the surgery’s day-to-day operations.

• The surgery trialled two Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5299DW printers
• The staff have found the print quality of the new set-up excellent – and a marked improvement on the surgery’s former devices
• There has been a significant increase in printing speed – especially regarding the First Page Out Time.  This speed increase has enabled the staff to produce patient prescriptions and leaflets far more quickly
• In terms of product performance, no user intervention has been required since implementation in August in terms of jams or faults
• Due to the huge, 40,000-page-capacity cartridge, no change of consumables has been required in the last three months – and the printers will run for many more months without new cartridges
• The printer has no drum, meaning fewer consumables – thus reducing printer issues and downtime; interruption to clinical staff; and staff frustration