A multi branch clinic network

The challenge

Appointment lines rang busy at peak hours and every branch published a different number, so patients simply gave up.

What we built

One central cloud number with IVR routing to each branch, queues with position announcements, and recorded lines on every consultation call.

The story

Six branches had six published numbers, each one a single line into a single reception desk. At nine in the morning every one of them rang busy at once, and a patient who could not get through did not try the next branch. They called a different clinic.

Nobody inside the network could see the scale of it, because a busy tone leaves no record. The first call heatmap was the uncomfortable part: the gap between calls received and calls answered was far wider than anyone had assumed.

Everything now arrives on one number. The IVR asks which branch the patient wants and routes accordingly, so the printed number on every prescription, board and listing can finally be the same one. Calls that arrive while a desk is busy hold in a queue and hear their position rather than a busy tone.

Recording every consultation line settled the second problem. Arguments about what an appointment time was, or what a patient was told about a fee, are now a fifteen second conversation instead of an argument nobody can win.