virtual receptionist Archives - Page 2 of 3

Cutting physiotherapy waiting times

A study led by Bristol University professor Chris Salisbury has shown that using the telephone to make initial physiotherapy assessments can cut down not only on missed appointments but also on waiting times. The trial compared the outcome for patients who were offered an initial telephone assessment against those who waited for a physiotherapist appointment.

The study concluded that some patients can be managed entirely by phone but that despite the faster access to treatment, overall satisfaction levels remained unchanged. However, the Bristol University press release did stress that this evaluation was only one element of an overall requirement to examine treatment options for an increasingly elderly and immobile population.

Interestingly Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has also released a report which shows that using a follow up telephone service can cut down the number of wasted and missed appointments within its urology service. Whilst these are just two examples, they do illustrate the way in which the telephone is playing an increasingly important role in the health practitioner/ patient relationship.

However, the more that patients come to expect telephone communication, the more they will be dissatisfied when phone calls remain unanswered. This poses a dilemma for the health practitioner. On the one hand they are expected to be on hand for patient calls; on the other, they don’t want to interrupt consultations to answer the phone.

The answer is to delegate their phone answering and appointment booking service to a specialist virtual receptionist service. With the receptionist handling calls, making appointments and sending out reminders the health practitioner can concentrate on treating their patients. And if telephone consultations are on offer, these can be booked in the same way as any other face to face consultation. After all, even telephone consultations need to be paid for and managing these in the same way as ordinary consultations via a booking system helps to ensure that invoices are raised and that no income is lost.

Another advantage of offering pre-appointment phone consultations is that the physiotherapist or other health practitioner can gauge the optimum treatment time, meaning that diaries can be more effectively filled, reducing wasted time between appointments. Whether or not patients can be treated via the phone will depend very much on the nature of their problem but what is certain is using a virtual receptionist to answer the phone enables the practitioner to concentrate on treatment in all its forms and that can only be good for the patient and the health service provided.

Telephone back up

The Suffolk coroner, Peter Dean, is writing to the NHS Norfolk and Waveney primary care trust to emphasise the importance of having a telephone back-up system in place. The correspondence arose following an inquest over the death of a patient whose family had difficulty contacting their local GP due to a telephone line failure.

Whilst the lack of phone contact was not deemed to have contributed to the patient’s death, the coroner did highlight the importance of proper plans being in place to cover telephone outages. In this particular instance apparently the phone lines were out of action for over 24 hours with calls being diverted to a single mobile.

The coroner’s observations on the importance of telephone answering could equally be applied to any health practitioner. Calls to make appointments, to query symptoms or to ask for advice are all vitally important to current and prospective patients and if they are unanswered then either the patient’s problem can escalate or they may simply go elsewhere. For example patients may choose to visit A&E if the GP is unavailable or may go to another chiropractor if their first choice doesn’t answer the phone.

So the problem of maintaining an open telephone line is not just confined to times when phone systems develop a fault. But for many health practitioners this poses a dilemma with the choice being between interrupting a patient consultation and not answering the phone call. The answer is to use the services of a virtual receptionist.

Virtual receptionist services can answer calls, make appointments and even screen unwanted sales calls. Available on a full time or as needed basis the virtual receptionist service means that calls need never go unanswered again. With added extras such as diary management, appointment reminders and patient records management the virtual receptionist helps to maximise patient treatment time without compromising service standards.

Because virtual receptionists work via the internet, even if the health practitioner’s own telephone line goes down the receptionist can take over, receiving calls and making appointments which the practitioner can view on line.

Following the phone failure incident last year the health centre concerned has upgraded its phone services with a view to avoiding repeat problems. But the story is a lesson for all those who provide health services on the importance of ensuring a back-up plan is in place before it is too late.

Combining therapies

We are constantly reminded about the way in which regular exercise can improve our overall health. Now researchers in America have published the results of a survey of 10,000 people into the benefits of exercise, for those taking statins to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease.

The researchers found that middle aged people who take regular exercise, such as 150 minutes of brisk walking or cycling per week, are 50% less likely to die in the next ten years than those who take statins and don’t exercise. Those who combined exercise with statins were 70% less likely to die in a ten year period than those who simply took statins.

The results add to a growing body of evidence on the way in which even modest amounts of exercise can help to lower cholesterol and prevent diseases such as diabetes from developing. In commenting on the study, Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation told the Daily Telegraph that the results showed that combining exercise and statins could “provide a winning combination to further improve your heart health, with higher intensity exercise possibly offering more protection.”

It is generally recommended that anyone with high levels of cholesterol or who has lived a sedentary lifestyle take advice from a health practitioner before starting on an exercise programme. This may not necessarily be the local GP, with many GP practices offering support services for a range of conditions. As with any health issue it is important to call on the service which is most appropriate and indeed the NHS Choose Well campaign is designed to help patients to choose the service which will meet their needs.

The aim of the Choose Well campaign is to free up A&E departments to concentrate on those who have a critical or life-threatening need whilst ensuring that all patients receive speedy treatment. For health practitioners such as osteopaths and physiotherapists this may result in patients taking more responsibility for their treatment and calling direct for appointments.

This is where a virtual appointment service such as Clinic Appointments can come in handy. With Clinic Appointments’ trained receptionists taking calls and making appointments, health practitioners can maximise treatment times whilst eliminating missed calls. So, whether you are treating patients who have responded to Choose Well and made appointments direct or coping with the aftermath of a sudden rise in exercise by the middle aged, you know you can concentrate on what you do best without worrying about diary management or missed calls.

How do your patients view you?

Research by The London School of Economics in conjunction with other London Universities has revealed some interesting statistics in respect of doctor-rating websites. Whilst the researchers only interviewed a relatively small number of people within the London area, the results revealed that only 15% of those interviewed were aware that web sites existed on which they could rate the performance of their local health provider.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who used doctor-rating sites either had a good relationship with their GP or felt that their GP did not provide clear explanations. The young were also more likely to make use of sites which enabled them to rate their local health professionals.

Whilst the research was aimed at NHS feedback sites it does have implications for all health professionals. The researchers concluded that although “online rating websites can play a major role in supporting patients’ informed decisions on which healthcare providers to seek advice from” there is a danger of bias as those who provide feedback on doctor-ranking websites “are unlikely to be representative of the overall patients’ pool.

Of course it is not just official rating websites which can affect how health professionals are viewed by their patients and prospective patients. In this social media age reputations can be made and broken in an instant with comments on chat forums, social media sites and even e-mail. Every business therefore needs to be aware of and keep on top of their online reputation.

But there are also a few steps which healthcare practices can take to avoid receiving negative comments online. Patients are only moved to complain if they receive poor service and therefore taking steps to improve service levels will help to create a positive image. Perception starts with first contact and there is nothing more frustrating for someone who is in pain than to be faced with a never-answered telephone.

Making use of the Clinic Appointments virtual receptionist service means that a healthcare professional need never force their clients to make multiple unanswered phone calls again. Trained call handlers will answer that first contact telephone call in a professional and friendly manner, helping to create that good first impression which can make all the difference. And with diary management, appointment reminder and record storage services available as part of the package, Clinic Appointments can help to free up healthcare professionals’ time; enabling them to concentrate on providing a high standard of care to their patients and hopefully leading to good feedback on any health-review website.

Time to stop sitting around

A study from Leicester and Loughborough Universities has shown that sitting still for long periods of time can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death. Whilst the trigger limit varies from person to person, those who sit for the longest are at greatest risk, with the strongest association being between sitting still and diabetes.

Dr Emma Wilmot who led the study said that “people convince themselves they are living a healthy lifestyle, doing their 30 minutes of exercise a day. But they need to think about the other 23.5 hours.” Suggestions to redress the balance include conducting standing meetings, walking at lunch time and typing whilst standing up.

There will be those working in some health fields who will greet the study with a wry smile. Health practitioners working in occupations such as physiotherapy or who offer beauty treatments can find themselves standing for long periods and so would welcome the chance to sit down at the end of a busy day. However, for them, the benefits of moving around during the day can be outweighed by the stress of having to catch up at the end of a day; with paperwork and telephone calls taking up time which would be better spent on leisure.

Those who are caught in this trap may well find that using the services of a virtual assistant can enable them to relax at the end of the day, rather than spend several hours on paperwork. Sometimes thought of as simply providing a telephone answering service, virtual assistants in fact do so much more. For example, taking advantage of diary management and patient records services means that patient notes will be organised and available at the touch of a button, appointment reminders and invoices sent out and the diary kept up to date.

This means that rather than turning round at the end of a day to remind clients of upcoming appointments , search out patient records for the next day and send out invoices, all the health practitioner needs to do is glance at their diary and then go home to a well earned rest. Add in the fact that whilst the health practitioner is working the virtual assistant is answering calls and filling up their diary and the overall effect is to reduce no shows and banish non-earning blank times during the day.

So whether the health practitioner is on their feet all day or not, using a virtual assistant service at least means the end of sitting around waiting for patients to show, and paperwork free evenings.

Proactive phoning

A trial of a new telephone system has found that contacting patients by telephone can help to spot early warning signs as well as cut down on unnecessary hospital appointments. The study into patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease required patients to input answers to a series of questions using their key pads with the results being analysed by doctors.

This regular contact not only alerted doctors to patients who needed urgent attention it also eliminated the need for some three hundred unnecessary hospital appointments, saving both time and money. Regular contact also resulted in patients being more aware of their condition, enabling them to be more proactive in self-management.

In a way this trial is another step forward in the growth in understanding of how health professionals can use telephone services to improve patient interaction and fill appointment books. Simple measures such as sending out SMS appointment reminders can not only improve the client attendance rate but will also prompt clients who cannot attend appointments to cancel in good time. This enables practitioners to re-fill appointment slots and maximise time spent on treatment.

Similarly, taking steps to ensure that calls are answered helps to foster the client relationship. We all lead busy lives and tend to steal moments from our day to carry out tasks such as making appointments. If the call is not answered the chances are that the need to phone will slip from our minds for some time or that we will simply telephone elsewhere. This is where a virtual receptionist service can be so valuable. With the virtual receptionist ensuring that the call is answered on behalf of the health practitioner there will be no chance that the client will phone elsewhere or that an urgently needed treatment will be postponed.

Whether they be osteopaths or chiropractors, beauticians or physiotherapists, the one thing all health practitioners have in common is the need to maximise time spent with patients. Interrupting treatments to answer the phone or blocking out diary time to remind patients of impending appointments is simply not a viable option if the practice is to run to its potential. Calling on the services of a virtual receptionist service means that calls are answered, appointments made and reminders sent without taking up practice time. And with easy to use diary software which is visible 24/7 the use of a virtual receptionist doesn’t preclude the practice making follow up appointments at the end of a treatment session.

Reducing “no shows”

A recent NHS report revealed that 1 in 10 hospital appointments in 2011 resulted in “no shows”. This adds up to a staggering 5.5 million missed appointments and costs the NHS £millions each year. Even if each patient has a genuine reason for missing the appointment, missed appointments have a knock on effect across the NHS.

In announcing the “no show” figures, the then health minister, Simon Burns, said “It is important that people realise that not turning up for their agreed appointments means other patients’ care might be delayed.” Although the figures were down by 250,000 on the previous year they still have a significant impact on NHS services.

Hospitals are starting to employ a variety of methods in a bid to reduce the number of those who fail to turn up for appointments. One project in Bedfordshire cut missed appointments by 30% simply by asking patients themselves to write down the appointment time and repeat it back to the receptionist. Other health providers have started sending reminders to patients by text or e-mail whilst Newham University Hospital doctors now check up on their diabetes patients via Skype.

The problem of missed appointments also affects those in the private healthcare sector. However with many services such as osteopathy and physiotherapy operating as via comparatively small practices, health practitioners can be torn between the options of treating patients or spending time in administration. This means that inevitably patient appointment reminders are not sent, raising the chance of missed appointments.

Whilst some private health practices have a policy of charging patients for missed appointments these fees can prove hard to collect and may endanger the patient/practitioner relationship. There is no point in trying to collect a missed appointment fee if that means missing several other fees in the future.

This is where a virtual receptionist service comes into its own. Answering the phone, making appointments and sending reminders via text or email, the virtual receptionist service takes the appointment strain, leaving the clinician free to maximise patient time. Interestingly a study in 2008 showed that those in the 20-24 age group are the most likely to miss appointments followed by the 25-29 and 15-19 age groups. The most tech savvy groups are therefore the worst offenders and a reminder system which takes advantage of text or e-mail could therefore have a significant effect.

Treating the Olympic legacy

When the UK team were bidding to host the Olympic Games, one of the arguments which swayed the decision makers was the importance placed on legacy. Press coverage of this aspect of the games emphasised the legacy implications of regenerating part of London with a secondary mission of improving sporting facilities in other areas of the UK.

However, for many legacy was a lip service addition to the games themselves. Not any more. The impact of the Olympics has seen an explosion of interest in sports across the UK. Clubs have seen a massive surge in enquiries from all ages and our streets are filling up with cyclists and joggers.

Admittedly this surge in interest has been partly helped by websites such as the “things to do*” and “join in local sport**” sites which have made it easier for those interested in local sport to find out what is on in their area. However, the sites are only being successful because of the interest in sport which our Olympic success has generated.

So, with sports clubs across the land putting on taster session and extra courses, some of which are filing up almost as soon as they are announced, and with joggers and cyclists taking to our streets in numbers it is inevitable that sooner or later there will be an increased call for those who treat sporting injuries. No matter how careful a sports club is, no matter how well regulated the training; injuries are a side effect of physical activity.

This means that physiotherapists and osteopaths, chiropractors and massagers may well be seeing an increase in requests for treatment. Taking advantage of this increased demand requires the ability to maximise treatment times and minimise other administration functions. This is where a virtual receptionist service comes in handy. While practitioners are concentrating in providing treatment, the virtual receptionist can arrange appointments, answer calls, send out invoices and manage patient records.

With all the long term benefits which sport and exercise brings we hope that the Olympic legacy will last for many years to come. Helping to treat those who have stumbled along the way, getting them back on the pathway to success is the task of physiotherapists and others. Taking the administrative strain, well that is the job of the Clinic Appointments team.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo
**https://www.joininuk.org/

The rise of sports science

One element which has emerged very clearly from the Olympic Games is the extent to which sports science has grown up. Competitor after competitor has talked about getting a massage or having some treatment. We already knew that sport had moved on but the unmistakeable message is that sporting prowess is now inextricably linked with science and medicine; with psychologists, food nutritionists and physiotherapists all playing their part.

In fact it’s not just the Olympic athletes who will benefit from physiotherapy. A team of veterinary physiotherapists has also been drafted in to look after the needs of the 180 or so horses taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Whilst the top teams travel with their own support staff, the Olympic organisers have also drafted in a range of medical practitioners to help look after the athletes. One such, physiotherapist Sian Vaughan-Evans, has even postponed her honeymoon in favour of helping out this summer. Mrs Vaughan-Evans told the London Evening Standard that she was looking forward to meeting “athletes from around the world and sharing their Olympic experience, and doing what I can to aid recovery, prevent and treat injuries.”

This dedication to providing treatment is something which we see time and time again in the health practitioners that we come into contact with via Clinic Appointments. Perhaps it is because those who take advantage of our virtual receptionist service are constantly seeking ways to improve patient service and maximise treatment times. Using the Clinic Appointments service means that whilst patients are being treated, our reception team are booking appointments, answering simple queries and sending out appointment reminders. This means that patient treatment time is not taken up in answering the phone or administration and prospective patients are not lost due to unanswered calls.

When it comes to providing treatment it doesn’t really matter if the patient is a top athlete or someone who has twisted their ankle getting off a bus. The important thing is to provide the right treatment as quickly as possible to aid speedy recovery. Maximising the time available for treatment is one way to ensure that patients are not kept waiting for days to receive an appointment.

As an added bonus, taking advantage of the Clinic Appointment practice management and patient record services just might free up some time in the evening. This enables practitioners to watch or take part in their favourite sporting activities in free time which would otherwise be spent sending invoices or filing records.

Maximising business through texts

The UK’s love affair with texting continues. A recent Ofcom report revealed that for the first time ever the volume of mobile calls has declined, whilst on the other side of the equation the average consumer now sends over fifty texts every week.

Admittedly many of these texts are sent by the 16-24 year age group. Interestingly this group say they prefer talking face to face. However, with 90% texting family and friends on a daily basis compared with only 63% talking face to face it is clear that sending texts has become a way of life. Luckily for businesses, this love affair with texts presents a fresh marketing opportunity.

Perhaps because text messages have taken their place as an intrinsic part of our daily lives, we are far more likely to open text messages from businesses than mail or e-mails. Surveys show that we read over 90% of text messages from businesses. This percentage increases still further when the text is from a known and trusted business source.

This means that businesses which want to attract the attention of their clients can use texting with a fairly high certainty that the text will be read. For businesses in the health or beauty sector which need to minimise “no-shows” the use of text reminders can prove invaluable.

The Clinic Appointments Diary Management service includes a text service. This means that we can send appointment reminders by text, or e-mail, as well as send out marketing SMS text messages. Reminding clients of their appointments not only increases attendance rates, if for some reason clients are unable to make the appointment the text message prompts them to cancel, giving the business time to re-book the appointment slot.

Using texts to send out marketing messages is also an effective way of attracting clients’ attention. So, you can quickly and simply let your clients know if a new treatment is available or a new product has arrived. Add an invitation to book with the text alert and your client can call you via the Clinic Appointments Diary service and book their appointment on the spot. Better still, while they are booking via Clinic Appointments, you can concentrate on maximising your time with patients.

Yes, texting has arrived as a force in our lives. Using texts as appointment reminders or as marketing channels means that the text savvy business can make texting a force for their business good as well as providing an enhanced service to clients.

0800 0789333 info@clinicappointments.com

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