It’s no secret that the UKs healthcare system is under immense pressure in 2022 – the pandemic hit an already stretched service and the last few years have taken their toll on staff across the NHS. With doctors and nurses leaving faster than the health service can replace them, significant funding issues and a growing population, patients are drawing the short straw when it comes to care and treatment.
However, patients are coming to recognise that face to face appointments aren’t the only kind of care available. In a shift that started pre-Covid 19, more and more people are happy to receive GP care over the phone. Before the pandemic, some 10% of patients relied on telephone consultations to get help and support with their symptoms, in June 2022 a survey showed this had doubled to 20%. Whilst of course this frees up valuable (and often more time consuming) face to face appointments, it does also mean that surgeries are dealing with higher call volumes than ever before.
For GPs, the need for a robust and effective phone system has never been greater. Your chosen telephone system is now as vital in delivering effective patient care to ever increasing demand – is it up to the job? You need a system that can of course deal with today’s demand but that can also scale up to cope as your practice – and demand for telephone services – continues to grow. You need to be asking questions like: Can our phone system cope during peak periods – for example, when several patients or clients are calling in to book appointments first thing on a Monday morning? Can we quickly add and change messages with key information, or set up call forwarding, for patients and clients who call during out of hours? And with staff spread across multiple rooms or buildings, does our current phone system make it easy to locate and contact them? If the answer is no then it may be time to change.
As demand grows and resources seemingly lessen, ensuring you have a top notch telephone system to deal with whatever comes your way is key. Your older system may well be struggling to deal with a post pandemic, evolving healthcare system – we can help.. Equations has been working with clinics of all sizes for more than twenty years. We help GP practices with systems that support call handling through peak periods, appointments, triage and out of hours messages. We can review your telephone system for you completely pain- and cost-free. We’ll take time to understand your specific needs and identify areas that could not only make your life easier, but also cut growing call and infrastructure costs for your surgery. We’ll make sure you have a system that’s able to meet your requirements not just now, but as the health service evolves in the future. And support is only ever a phone call away.
To book your free phone system review or ask any questions give us a call on 01237 420010 or click here: https://equationsvoiceanddata.co.uk/contact-us
