There’s a lot of scaremongering going on in the press since Boris Johnson announced the latest round of COVID-19 measures, including the new three tier lockdown system. In many of his recent speeches, the Prime Minister said the UK was in for a tough winter because of the implications of Coronavirus.

There could be added stresses on our healthcare system during what is already its busiest time, so with demand for NHS services under added pressure, surgeries will likely find themselves stretched in every department. A VoIP phone system can help with your surgery’s busiest periods in ways you wouldn’t have expected – here’s how…

Look at your call flow — and plan to deal with it

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.

Functional flexibility that fits the needs of your surgery

As well as providing a whole host of information on what calls are incoming, it has a whole suite of functionality too. 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 tools on offer with VoIP can be tweaked to suit. All surgeries are different, so VoIP provides countless unique ways to work during their most difficult time of the year, in an unprecedented year.

Communicating with doctors on-call will be easier

VoIP 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 at another site. If you install the mobile phone app, you can also connect mobile phones to the office number to make and take calls too.

Save money in the process

After making the leap to VoIP, organisations have reported saving as much as 80% of existing costs. The system works through your broadband internet connection, so it removes much of the cost of setting up new lines, which means you can also add phones easily with no major cost.

For more information on how VoIP phone systems could work for your surgery during a potentially difficult winter, give us a call at Equations on 01237 420010 and we’ll answer any questions you may have.