The Challenge
Oxford terrace based in Gateshead required a robust phone system to assist with their day-to-day operations. As well as a robust system they also required more support from Smart IT than what they are currently receiving from their current provider.
Prior to working with Smart IT, the surgery had an onsite phone system that was tiresome to maintain and required expensive engineer visits to apply any updates or and fixes to the system. After the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the surgery knew it was important to upgrade to a more comprehensive and efficient system.
“At Oxford Terrace Doctors Surgery, we take great pride in delivering exceptional healthcare services to our patients. Our commitment to providing a high level of service is at the heart of everything we do, and we strive to make every patient’s visit as comfortable, efficient, and effective as possible.”
Kristina Langley, Oxford Terrace
The Solution
We met with Oxford Terrace to discuss what pains they had with their old system and what impact these were having on staff morale and patient experience. Smart IT were able to ensure that they were providing the most suitable system to cater and to fulfil all of Oxford Terrace’s needs and requirements moving forward.
After this initial meeting it became clear that a cloud-based telecoms system would offer a lot more functionality and make their telecoms system a more integral part of their daily operations. A cloud-based telephony system would help to make Oxford Terrace’s day to day life a lot easier.
One of the main benefits of the new system is the call queueing feature, which allows patients to call the surgery and be provided with their queue position and an estimated wait time, resulting in more efficient and transparent communication. Not only is this a great feature for the Practice but it is now becoming a mandatory feature for all healthcare telephony systems.
The system also offers customization through an online portal. Options such as updating working hours, automated messages and changing training days can all be done with only a few clicks. Our system also gives the practice manager detailed breakdowns of call statistics allowing them to look at live calls in the queue, average wait times, unanswered calls etc. This information is incredibly important to the practice manager as it allows them to manage staffing levels, whilst having reports monitoring the call traffic on a daily/weekly basis. Additionally, the system allows for easy remote access through plug and play handsets, mobile apps or softphone clients meaning staff and GPS can work from anywhere whether that be on site or at home. The solution was also cost-effective for the surgery as new users can easily be added. Smart IT also provides ongoing support to ensure any requirements are resolved quickly and efficiently.
“Unfortunately, our previous phone system didn’t provide us with the functionality that we need to meet the demands of modern healthcare. The old system was analogue and restricted the number of lines we could use at once. Our new system allows our clinicians to provide telephone consultations without blocking incoming calls. We realised we would need a new solution that would enable us to communicate more effectively with our patients and provide the high-quality care they deserve.”
Kristina Langley, Oxford Terrace
The Results
Overall, the new cloud-based system provides Oxford Terrace Surgery with everything they were looking for in a phone system, and it is reliable, robust, feature-rich, and future-proof. It has greatly improved the practice’s day-to-day operations and removed the burden of maintaining an onsite system.
This extra functionality is great for Oxford Terrace, one of the main priorities they were looking for besides improved functionality was more support and advice on their system when needed. Since implementing the new system, Smart IT has been on hand to assist with any queries they have had.
“We are thrilled with the experience we have had with the Smart IT Comms system. The system has transformed the way we communicate with our patients. We are now able to efficiently manage our calls, easily transfer calls to the appropriate staff member, and provide our patients with a seamless experience. We couldn’t be happier with the Smart IT Comms system, and we highly recommend it to any healthcare provider looking to upgrade their communication infrastructure.”
Kristina Langley, Oxford Terrace
