This week saw Broadway Healthcare Logistics carry out its 3500th home patient delivery this year. We spoke with Darren Gittins, Broadway’s General Manager to find out more about what has made Broadway’s home patient delivery service such a success and what sets Broadway apart from its competition.
“Broadway’s success in the home patient delivery market is predominantly down to our ability to tailor our delivery solutions to meet the needs of both our customers and the patients that they serve.”
“Our experience in the healthcare sector has been invaluable in enabling us to understand what makes for a successful home patient delivery and we work very closely with our customers in order to ensure that the services we provide are discreet, reliable and give patients the sense of security they need in order that the transition from hospital to home is as seamless and stress-free as possible”
Broadway Healthcare Logistics has been established in 1981 and has provided logistics solutions to the healthcare sector exclusively since its inception.
“Back in the early eighties, our focus was predominantly on the collection of non-sterile medical consumables from medical manufacturers, for onward delivery to sterilisation plants wherein the goods would be sterilised prior to us collecting the sterile goods for return to our customers’ finished goods warehouses”
“As our bulk non-sterile and sterile transport business expanded and our exposure to the needs of our healthcare customers increased, we were presented with a number of opportunities which included the delivery of renal dialysis equipment and supplies to renal units across the UK which involved the delivery of dialysis machines and consumables such as bloodlines, needles and filters to the hospital renal wards.”
“This experience opened our eyes to the need for discreet delivery services that were non-intrusive and carried out by individuals who were sensitive to the environment that they were working in.”
Broadway delivered to its first home patient in 1987 which involved the delivery of palletised haemodialysis concentrates which could weigh in excess of 1 tonne and take up the equivalent of a medium-sized garden shed in space.
“Home dialysis has come a long way since we started delivering to patient homes and what used to take hours per delivery can now be done in minutes thanks to advancements in technology and the way in which patients dialyse. However, our focus remains the same as it did back in 1987, which is to ensure that the patient is not inconvenienced by our driver throughout the delivery process and that we leave them comfortable in the knowledge that they do not have to move product around their house or dispose of large quantities of the packaging once we have left them.”
“The value adds Broadway provides is something that really sets us apart from our competition and we work on the basis that nothing is out of the question when it comes to ensuring that the patients we serve are happy with their delivery. Key holding, stock put away and rotation in a room or outside area of their choice, removal of unwanted packaging and stock, are just some of the value-adding activities that we undertake on a daily basis.”
“Of course, there are challenges associated with this kind of business. We need to ensure that all of our drivers are DBS checked, that they are uniformed and carry ID which means that we cannot subcontract our home patient business through pallet networks or other temporary routes. We also need to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times and that our interaction with patients is professional, courteous and friendly regardless of how demanding some may be. We believe that we excel in this area and that our service levels are second to none when it comes to dealing with the patients we are delivering to on a daily basis.”
In January 2015, Broadway became the first logistics company to join the Medical Accreditation Scheme (MIA). MIA was launched in 2013 by the medical technology industry to raise training standards for company representatives and service engineers visiting acute and critical care areas of hospitals.
“Whilst it wasn’t directly aimed at companies such as ours, we joined the MIA scheme in order to further enhance our staff awareness of the hospital environment and more importantly, to make them aware of situations they may be faced with when delivering to areas inside or outside the hospital environment where they will come into contact with patients.”
“As was the case when we started carrying out CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks on our drivers back in 2012, it didn’t take long for other logistics companies to follow our lead.”
“Broadway is dedicated to serving the needs of the healthcare sector exclusively therefore, the more we can do to make our staff aware of the environment in which they work and the people that they will come into contact with each day, the better our chances of providing them with the service that they deserve.”
Broadway Healthcare Logistics will be celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2016. Broadway is a specialist in the storage, handling, transportation and delivery of medical goods to the healthcare sector exclusively.
For more information visit www.broadwaytransport.co.uk or call 01905 799094.
