June 2021
Peel Hall Medical Practice is a member of a Primary Care Network consisting of 7 surgeries within the M22 and M23 areas looking after over 60,000 patients.
The Challenge
Peel Hall Medical Practice realised that their legacy Nortel system was nearing end-of-life and likely would not be repairable. As such the practice had been "looking at a web based system for over a year" explains Jang Bakhat, Business Manager at Peel Hall.
The team at Peel Hall were looking at "a combination of things. Call recordings, having a call flow put in place, and to have IVR control. And actually having a member of staff be the eyes as well.
"Also being able to manage busy times throughout the day by putting more staff on reception just to bring the call level down. And being able to advise patients where they are within the queue."
The Solution
Surgery Connect includes the cloud telephony features the practice initially needed along with comprehensive control and flexibility not available with legacy systems, including giving "staff the functionality of being able to work from home and it's like they're still in the practice. We can give doctors and staff the freedom of being able to work from home with ease." Staff and practitioners working remotely function just as they would in the practice utilising the full suite of call handling and call recording features. All remote activity is logged and also available in reports.
The feature that stands out for Peel Hall is "call recording, undoubtedly. Within the NHS, the balance with complaints definitely works in favour of the patient. Rightfully so." Call recordings allow the practice to review the conversation with any patient lodging a complaint, providing evidence when there is disagreement. "So that helps you massively. The staff have also noticed a change in the attitude of callers, as they know the calls are being recorded." Jang concludes.
Call stats are an additional resource with patient disputes, for example Peel Hall had a patient who claimed she'd called 100 times but checking the statistics they were able to dispel the claim. As Jang points out "things like that are essential."
Peel Hall have improved the patient call experience by ensuring "the right number of staff are managing the lines at the right time. We can have the most complex call flow installed very quickly with bespoke messaging, which we can change within seconds.
"And the flexibility of it as well. For example, if somebody wants to log in upstairs and still be on reception, they can. We have different hunt groups as well, targeting a specific team."
Even though Surgery Connect's rental model is more expensive than their old Nortel system the change still presents Peel Hall with cost savings thanks to increased efficiency: "Pays for itself. It cuts down the amount of actual work by being able to manage staff and patients better. For example, if a patient called us six or seven times, with the old system we wouldn't have a clue. Now we can add resources when needed."
Peel Hall Medical Practice Says
"All I can say is that it was like working in the dark and then someone switched on the lights.
"This service saves staff costs and time and whilst providing a better service for patients and protection for staff and patients.
"I would just like to say that our whole experience has been nothing but excellent, from the initial install and then getting us up and running with our call flow.
"I have to say that I felt that nothing was too much to ask for and that all the staff I have encountered so far have been exceptional.
"The main fear of moving to a new system is the change, but the team at Surgery Connect made this painless and they were there holding our hand all the way. All the trainers have been great too.
"If you are opting for a new system then look no further."
Jang Bakhat
Business Manager
Peel Hall Medical Practice
peelhallmedicalpractice.co.uk
For further information on Surgery Connect please call Sales on 0333 332 0000.
