Based in Birmingham, Hall Green Health was formed in 2003 following the merger of five smaller practices. In addition to general practice services they also provide Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Health Visitors, District Nursing, School Nursing and Speech Therapy. A Pharmacy is on-site.

The Challenge

When Hall Green Health decided it was time to upgrade their telephony they collated a set of requirements that would guide their decision process. As Jamal Syed, Operations Manager at Hall Green Health, describes there were a “number of key factors that we looked at. COVID-19 taught us that working with a secure system from home, to have the ability to take calls, was key. The change to having remote clinicians to support us meant we needed a solution that works as well off-site as it does on-site. We wanted a solution that had a clear pricing structure with the built in ability to make changes ourselves. We learnt that things change and, despite planning, systems do need updating, and the perfect call flow today will not suit us tomorrow. We wanted to have full control of this and not worry that changes meant spending money on licenses.

“We were also very aware that patients were not happy waiting on hold for us to answer and with all the modern technology solutions out there we could not blame them. We are constantly looking at our call volumes and looking to reduce call waits but we still have a large surge first thing in the morning.”

The Solution

Surgery Connect responded early in 2020 to the onset COVID-19 with increased remote working capacity, allowing GPs and staff to function from home, or any remote location, just as if they were in the practice, with the connected patients unaware of any change in staff location. Additionally full integration with the practice clinical system is available to remote staff. Advanced GP Telephony available anywhere.

Per Seat Rental

A monthly all inclusive per seat rental allows practices to easily administer their budget, without fearing what the call costs might be, as is the case with providers not offering an all inclusive plan. Surgery Connect is constantly evolving in response to customer request and NHS requirements, but all system upgrades are included at no extra cost.

Call Handling

Surgery Connect provides unlimited lines in and out of the practice, a feature only available with cloud based systems. Staffing capacity being the only limitation. Sophisticated call queueing options provide vastly superior call handling options to in-house legacy systems. The Patient Callback facility also means patients can elect not to wait in the call queue but still maintain their position. “The patient call back was what that set X-on apart from the other products we looked at. This meant that patients need not need to wait on the phone and that the practice did not need to remember to call them back as it was all automated.”

Jamal continues: “Since taking on Surgery Connect, we have changed our call flow numerous times, from minor tweaks such as updated wording to major menu changes. We have been able to test these before making them live to patients which gives us the reassurance that it is ready. The ability to react to issues, such as computer outages, has been invaluable in keeping patients up-to-date with what is happening without spending hours trying to make the change and then revert it.

“Taking on Surgery Connect has involved a change in mind-set of we want and what we expect of our phone solution. We have yet to delve into the integration into our clinical system in great detail, but are looking forward to mapping that out in the near future.”

Reliable Support

Easy to access and reliable support is paramount for the team at X-on, along with readily available training, help and information. Our support team are regularly rated 5 star by customers completing the post support ticket survey. Dedicated training along with monthly webinars ensure staff are equipped to navigate the system, and links to online help are available throughout the Surgery Connect interfaces. Comprehensive reporting completes the information landscape.

Jamal explains: “The part that I enjoy, is that I am feeling listened to by the team. I have raised a number of requests ranging from issues I have found to development requests for the dashboards. They have listened and often provided me with an update about what they are doing to address that issue or request. As a user this is something I find really valuable as we all know that Primary Care is not static and that we are constantly having to adapt to the situations around us. To do this we need a stable platform to pivot off.”

The simple cost structure, matched with an unrivalled set of features, have resulted in Surgery Connect being the most deployed healthcare cloud telephony system in the UK.