St Andrew’s Healthcare, the UK’s leading mental healthcare charity, has partnered with award winning tech company, Advanced.

The partnership will enable Advanced to deliver a full digital transformation programme worth several million pounds over five years.

Designed to mitigate IT risk whilst driving significant efficiencies, the contract will see Advanced take the charity on an innovative change programme enabling it to focus on its core competencies – delivering specialist care to patients with some of the most complex and challenging mental health needs.

St Andrew’s Healthcare employs more than 4,500 people across four locations, and cares for up to 900 patients in 78 wards. Originally established in 1838, more than 90 per cent of the charity’s patients are referred via the NHS. The charity followed a rigorous IT procurement process. Advanced was chosen by mapping its response to the charity’s transformation agenda whilst demonstrating a strong track record of success with other organisations in similar environments.

Providing full IT outsourcing, Advanced will manage all the business-critical services that St Andrew’s Healthcare requires, from desktop to datacentre, including 24×7 hosted infrastructure management initially on dedicated infrastructure, with backup and disaster recovery services.

Leslie Ross, Director of Business Change and IT at St Andrew’s Healthcare, says: “The whole world has changed, especially over the last two years which has seen cyber security become frontline news. Some industries, such as financial services, are geared up for this evolution, however the rest of the world is still hugely vulnerable. It’s time for us to step up to ensure we mitigate future risks, whilst becoming more mobile, agile and connected, as well as meeting St Andrew’s strategy and digitisation plans.”

Roy Wood, Managing Director, IT Services – Advanced, concludes: “As a forward-thinking mental healthcare charity living in a digital world, St Andrew’s has recognised the importance of re-imagining its organisation in order to meet staff, patient and regulatory expectations. Putting their faith in Advanced is testament to the success we’ve achieved in advising and transitioning other healthcare organisations, all underpinned by our robust security measures and a team of highly knowledgeable sector specialists.”