When he became Prime Minister last July, Boris Johnson made a pledge that nobody would have to wait more than three weeks to see their GP, but since then 11 million patients have endured waits longer than three weeks. Demand for NHS services is rising all the time, but more often than not, surgeries are finding themselves stretched in every department, leaving patients wound up and surgery staff bearing the brunt of their frustration.
On top of all that, surgeries are having to deal with new issues, like the coronavirus outbreak. When things are a struggle, achieving things like reducing costs, improving communication with patients and increasing efficiency can seem impossible, but a VoIP telephone system can help with your surgery’s busiest periods and help put long-term solutions in place to reduce problems for patients and staff alike.
See how call flow is coming in — and make a plan to deal with it efficiently
A huge influx of calls in a short timeframe can add real pressure to the running of a surgery, particularly in the morning when people are ringing up for same-day emergency appointments. A VoIP system allows you to look at your call volume and see when those crunch periods are at their worst, on a minute-by-minute basis. The reporting system provides easy to understand information on areas including how many calls you’re getting, waiting time for callers and who in the surgery is answering those calls.
Functionality so flexible you can tailor it to your needs
VoIP is great for providing information, but it has the functionality to match; call divert, virtual receptionists and hunt groups (a number of people set up to take incoming calls) can help you deal with any problems highlighted in your reports and statistics.
However you want to handle those busiest periods, the flexible suite of tools on offer with VoIP can be tweaked to suit. All surgeries are different, so VoIP provides countless unique ways to work.
Save your surgery money
Since making the switch to VoIP, some organisations have reported saving as much as 80% of existing costs — because the system works through your internet connection, it also removes much of the cost of setting up new lines, which means you can also add phones easily with no major cost.
Make life easier for doctors on-call
VoIP telephone numbers and handsets are designed to be taken anywhere — so for doctors on call in the event of an emergency, this means they can make and take calls at home or on another site. If you install the app, you can also connect mobile phones to the office number to make and take calls too.
For more information on how VoIP phone systems could work for your surgery, give us a call at Equations on 01237 420010 and we’ll answer any questions you may have.
