Overview
On Friday 12th April, the practice will be switching its phone provider to a new telephone system. This is due to feedback from both staff and patients and in line with NHS England's Modernising Access to Primary Care scheme, to move all GP Practices to a new Cloud Based Telephony System. There may be some disruption to our service at this time, which is beyond our control, however we are hoping patients feel minimal impact on the day of installation.
Improvements
The new telephone system will introduce a range of features to help improve the patient experience. These include, but are not limited to:
· An increased queue limit of 100 calls, meaning there will never be a time where you are unable to get through to us on the phone or hear an engaged tone unless there are more than 100 calls already in the queue.
· New options on the menu meaning that when you call, you will have a choice of teams to connect with:
§ Prescriptions (9.00-5.00) - Whilst you will be able to speak to the prescription team regarding queries on medication/prescriptions, you CANNOT order medication over the telephone.
§ Secretaries (9.00-5.00) - For information regarding referrals created by Forest House Surgery not referrals ordered by hospitals and to discuss To Whom It May Concern letters.
§ Medical Records and Private Work (9.00-5.00) – To discuss Subject Access Request to medical records and Private/Insurance Work.
§ Patient Registrations (9.00-5.30) - To enquire about your registration status and to check our catchment area if you have moved address.
§ Appointments (8.30-5.30) – To speak to a receptionist to book an on-day appointment or routine appointment dependant on availability. If you hear a message that all the appointments have been booked, then this relates to Doctor/Physician Associate appointments only. Reception may still be able to signpost you to the Pharmacy First Scheme for minor illnesses or Enhanced Access for remote consultations and with Nurse and Health Care Assistant appointments.
· Call monitoring and reporting - We will be able to identify when our busiest times of the day/week are and look at appropriate staffing levels.
Patient call-back
As part of the new system, we will be able to offer what is known as patient call-backs. When there are more than 10 people in the queue, you will be asked if you would like to retain your position in the queue and be called back when you reach number 1. The system will then call you and when you pick up you will be speaking with reception straight away. The system will attempt to call you on 2 occasions, at least a minute apart, but if we are unable to get a hold of you, a text will be sent to advise that we have attempted to call you and that you will need to call us back. When calling us back(from the same number you originally called from), the system will identify your number as a missed call back and attempt to put you straight to the front of the queue. The call back system will be in place Monday to Friday 8.30am - 4:30pm.
Please be patient with staff while we all get used to the new system. We may need to make changes once we have gone live following feedback from patients and staff. With the new system having ‘call flow’ (meaning patients can choose which department they need to talk) it should hopefully reduce the time patients need to wait to get through to the appointment line and hopefully make the experience of calling Forest House Surgery a positive one.