Circle Health Group Makes Operational Impact with Digital Connectivity
Circle Health Group enhances its building management systems with digital services, achieving comprehensive insight and operational efficiency across its estate.
Background
Circle Health Group is the UK’s largest independent provider of private hospital services, operating 53 hospitals and partnering with over 6,500 specialists. Like many other organisations in the industry, Circle Health Group is focused on improving operational efficiency and its carbon footprint. Additional contextual challenges, such as workforce shortages and the need to meet the demands of patients, are having a major impact. The Estates team at Circle have been exploring the wider adoption and integration of software and technologies to bridge the gap. The healthcare sector in the UK has set ambitious climate targets and Circle, has identified the link between decarbonisation and their broader operational efficiency strategy. Since 2017, Circle Health Group has been working in partnership with Schneider Electric, using their energy management and building control solutions. The partnership extends across all 53 Circle Health Group Hospitals and has grown to include their building management systems and a suite of digital services to support their operational activity.
Implementation
The transition to a digital estate is not straightforward. Healthcare estates have strict cybersecurity requirements, the digital infrastructure must be protected from unauthorised access, and there is the additional challenge of replacing antiquated systems at scale. Digital transformation is never easy, so making sure hospital teams are supported effectively with training and education is an additional consideration when implementing new solutions. However, the reasons for the transition are clear – the Building Management System (BMS) affects over half of energy usage across Circle Health Group’s hospitals. Upgrades to the most modern infrastructure are essential for an efficiently run estate. Across many of its sites, Circle Health Group introduced EcoStruxure Building Operation (EBO) early on in the relationship, and continue to seek ways in which this product can enhance their understanding around energy use and ways to optimise.
To complement these upgrades, Circle Health Group have a digital services plan with Schneider Electric, enabling them to take advantage of the Connected Services Hub (CSH), an advanced analytics platform with 24/7 remote maintenance support. Using over 500 AI-powered algorithms, the tool monitors alarms across critical products and systems to flag issues. A key benefit of the CSH is their agnostic approach with a range of different systems, including those provided by other suppliers. Schneider Electric has now connected over 75% of the hospitals and is working on connecting another 15% by the end of Q1 2025. In parallel to this, Schneider is working on critical alarming for the hospital fridges along with centralising the estate’s information into a single pane of glass, allowing Circle Health to see the performance of the estate holistically.
“The service plans have provided us with invaluable insights and operational efficiencies, improving our overall performance.”
Results
Circle Health Group has experienced a significant reduction of callouts as a result of the Connected Services Hub. In 2024, 81% of all cases were resolved remotely, resulting in notable time-savings for the engineering teams and faster resolution times. This avoids the need to close operating theatres while waiting for an engineer to come out, thereby avoiding unnecessary delays to patient care.
By utilising the digital tools and the experienced remote engineers, Circle Health Group can request adjustments to the system to maintain control in their most critical environments. In the 13% of instances where remote resolution is not achievable, the remote support team passes their findings to a local engineer who attends the site with appropriate equipment.
This helps minimise downtime for Circle Health Group. In fact, since 2018 Circle Health Group has saved over £200k through Schneider Electric’s remote support. Schneider’s quarterly engineering visits offer substantial advantages through equipment audits that provide recommendations for avoiding downtime or enhancing performance. The digitisation of the estate also aids sustainability decision-making with detailed energy usage metrics. Hospitals can quickly adjust and achieve greater control across heating, cooling, air handling, space utilisation, standby controls, and ongoing energy usage data. 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2020 2021 2022 Year Cases by Category Count of cases 2023 2024 Resolved Remotely Site Visit Cancelled Phone Advisory Site Visit following remote work
“The data-driven approach has greatly streamlined our operations and supported our sustainability initiatives.”