A private company with direct links to the NHS in the UK has implemented a business voice over internet protocol (VoIP) system across its national network of surgeries and walk-in centres.
The Practice, which has an exclusive agreement with the NHS to provide contracted patient services to UK citizens, has adopted its new business VoIP system as part of a more general programme of IT restructuring across its network of 60 community-based centres.
Among the benefits of adopting business VoIP has been the introduction of a dedicated system of automated call handling; whereby patients who try and contact a centre during busy times are automatically re-routed to a different number in a different part of the clinic network.
According to The Practice’s commercial director, Howard Gooder, this, and other benefits of their business VoIP system, has led to what he describes as the capacity to ‘improve our efficiency and the level of care we can give our patients.’
In making the transition to business VoIP however, The Practice has not only increased its efficiency; it has also managed to unburden itself of all day-to-day concerns regarding the technical management of its business phone systems.
This off-loading of technical concerns has been achieved through what is becoming an increasingly common practice among many businesses and organisations that adopt an internet protocol (IP) telephony system such as business VoIP: the use of a host business VoIP provider.
The ability to hand over technical control to a host VoIP provider or VoIP reseller can not only reduce anxiety and ensure the best technical assistance 24 hours a day; it also means that businesses and organisations are then free to concentrate on their core areas of activity.
In the case of The Practice, this means being able to dedicate more time to patient care.
