More than 7,000 employees at University Hospitals Bristol National Health Service Foundation Trust rely on technology to communicate across eight sites. But its existing intranet was underused, proving a barrier to effective collaboration and knowledge transfer. Users required intensive training and it demanded dedicated support from the IT team.

With a solution based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, the trust is rolling out a new intranet where users can create sites and workgroups and edit content independently. Staff have faster access to up-to-date information, while the IT team saves eight hours per week, and has time for value-added tasks elsewhere. Improved collaboration and new tools, such as a web part that integrates a real-time view of bed availability, mean the trust can make better-informed decisions that improve the quality of health services for the community it serves.