Case Study: Royal Flying Doctor Service of Victoria

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) dates back to an emergency assistance flight that took off on May 17, 1928 in Queensland. The RFDS grew from there, with the the Victoria branch forming in 1934, to provide aeromedical and other health services to the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Today, RFDS Victoria provides five main programs, including non-emergency patient transport, a mobile optometry clinic, a mobile dental clinic, a female general practice service and specialist appointments through the Flying Doctor Telehealth Platform.

The Dental Clinic makes it possible for residents of Victoria who qualify for public assistance to access dental health care that otherwise is not available in their remote parts of the state. Without it, hundreds of people would almost certainly go without dental screening and treatment. As of May, 382 patients received help from the RFDS Victoria’s Dental Clinic in 2017.

Keeping Track of Supplies

To keep its branches in supply, RFDS Victoria’s Dental Clinic stores products locally. Initially, the organization tracked such inventory by hand and memory. Dental assistants would restock supplies once a week, based on estimates of what products had been used since the last count.

Ultimately, the method proved less than desirable when RFDS Victoria found unexpected shortages. And with plans to expand the Dental Clinic, the organization realized it needed a better system to avoid inventory shrinkage. That’s when RFDS Victoria found Cin7.

“The need to monitor the dental stores from afar is important to ensure sufficient levels of stores are on hand for dental exams and treatments,” says Kate Storr, dental services manager for RFDS Victoria. “Cin7 will make sure that clinics are restocked to optimal levels to ensure no interruptions to service delivery.”

How Cin7 Helps

With Cin7, the RFDS Dental Clinic receives notifications when products fall below minimum quantities. Furthermore, Cin7 allows the organization to create purchase orders effortlessly when it is time to replenish the supplies. Real-time data and inventory tracking also help RFDS Victoria monitor clinic operating costs.

Prior to using Cin7, there were cases when products were not available in the clinic, as there was no system to identify when items were running low and could be ordered within a sufficient time. When products are not available, this can limit the extent of treatment available in the clinic, and prevent patients from receiving recommended treatment.

Thus, Cin7 has created a consistency of processes in raising branch transfers, sales orders and purchase orders to streamline clinic management and to help maintain superior service delivery to RFDS Dental Clinic patients.

“Cin7 has allowed the dental stores required to operate the Flying Doctor Dental Clinic in regional Victoria to be monitored effectively to ensure there are no interruptions to service delivery as a result of missing products,” Storr says. “Through the integration of Cin7 with existing processes, the management of the Flying Doctor Dental Clinic can be improved by providing the means to easily review stock quantities, efficiently order new stock items and replenish clinics, and to analyze the cost efficiencies of the clinics.”