IT support for a medical access service: 24 Access

When work depends on a computer, a printer or a connection, an incident is not an inconvenience: it is someone who cannot work. And in a service that attends to people, that lost time is not recovered later, it shows up in the care.

24 Access is a medical access service with memberships for which we provide ongoing IT support: remote and on-site assistance, incident management, maintenance of workstations and printers, network and connectivity, support for the appointment system and backups. The service responds in under 30 minutes and closes every logged ticket.

The challenge: a service with patients cannot wait for the technician to arrive

IT support in a care environment has a different demand than in an office: it is not only about fixing, it is about keeping the service running while it is fixed. Nobody can be left waiting for someone to find a free moment.

Every minute without the system is delayed care

If the appointment system stops responding, the consultation stops. If a printer will not print, a document does not arrive. The impact of an incident is measured in people waiting, not in technical hours.

The problem is not always software

A machine that will not boot, a loose cable, a jammed printer or a network dropping between sites cannot be solved from a remote session. Support needs both channels, and it needs to decide quickly which one each incident takes.

Without records, incidents repeat

When every report is resolved by phone and nothing is written down, the same problem comes back and nobody knows how many times. Without a history there is no way to tell a one-off case from a machine that needs replacing.

The solution: ongoing support, remote and on-site

Support is organised as a running service, not a one-off intervention: there is a response-time commitment, a record of everything that comes in and two assistance channels depending on what is needed. Everything that is maintained — workstations, network, appointment system — is reviewed before it fails.

Remote assistance to solve it right away

Most incidents are configuration, access, software or how-to questions, and are resolved remotely with no travel. That is what makes a sub-30-minute response commitment possible: there is no need to reach the site, there is a need to understand the problem and act.

On-site when the problem is physical

When the failure is hardware, cabling or installation, assistance becomes on-site. Having both channels avoids the most common mistake in support: trying to fix remotely something that only gets fixed with hands on the machine, which is what stretches incidents over days.

Tickets, network, appointment system and backups

Every incident is logged with its owner and its closure, which makes it possible to see what repeats. The network and connectivity between sites, the printers and the appointment system are maintained preventively, and backups cover what cannot be lost.

How we organise it

An ongoing support service is defined by what it commits to, not by what it promises. Before starting, it was agreed what counts as urgent, how long it takes to respond and how everything is recorded, which is what makes it possible to review the service with data instead of impressions.

Defining what is urgent and what can wait

Not all incidents are worth the same: a downed appointment system is not the same as a printer in an office. Agreeing that priority in advance makes it possible to respond first to what blocks the service and not to what called first.

Maintaining before it breaks

Preventive maintenance — machines, network, updates, backups — is the part nobody sees and the one that prevents the most incidents. In a service that cannot stop, every breakdown that never happens is worth more than any fast repair.

Results

The service is running with both assistance channels, incident logging and the maintenance of workstations, network, appointment system and backups. These were the needs and how they were solved:

The measured results of the service: response in under 30 minutes and 100% of tickets resolved. Both figures rest on the same thing: most incidents are closed without travel, and those that are not stay logged until they are closed.

What a service that attends to people needs

If your team depends on systems that cannot stop, these are the points that decide whether support works:

• A written response commitment, because 'as soon as possible' is not a time.
• Both assistance channels: remote for what is solved by talking and on-site for anything physical.
• Every incident logged, to know what repeats and which machine should be replaced.
• Preventive maintenance, which is what prevents the breakdown nobody wants on a Friday.
• Support for critical systems — appointments, network, backups — not just for computers.
• A regular review of the service, with the ticket data in front of you.

If your team loses hours waiting for someone to fix an incident, our IT support page explains how we work, and you can write to us to go through it together.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between remote and on-site support?

Remote support resolves most incidents — configuration, access, software, how-to questions — in the same conversation, with no travel. On-site support comes in when the problem is physical: a machine that will not boot, cabling, a printer or a network that has to be checked at the site.

Why does ticket management matter in a service with patients?

Because nothing can be left half done. Every logged incident has an owner, a status and a closure, so it is clear what was solved and what is still open. In a service that attends to people, a forgotten incident is not an administrative detail: it shows up in the care.

What is maintained besides the computers?

Everything needed for the service to run: the network and connectivity between sites, the printers, the appointment system and its users, and backups of what is critical. Support is measured by the service staying up, not by the number of machines attended.

How does an ongoing support service work?

There is no delivery date because there is no end: there is a response commitment — in this case, under 30 minutes — and follow-up on every incident. What gets reviewed regularly is compliance with that commitment and prevention, not the delivery of a document.