Patients are now able to make their views known via an
automated phone survey service
A new phone and touch screen survey service developed by a
Leicestershire company has been launched this month (September).
Engineers at Groby based unified communications specialists Voice
Connect have designed the service for GPs who want feedback from
patients to help improve access and services.
As part of the Patient Participation Groups initiative that has
been set up by the coalition government, GPs are rewarded for
getting feedback from their patients regarding the quality of
service provided. However, the cost of reaching large numbers of
patients from representative groups is difficult to achieve. The
new automated survey service has been designed to make the whole
process quicker and cheaper.
"We've worked with many areas of the NHS for more than two
decades, but GPs have been a large focus for our business over the
past eight years," says Voice Connect's Managing Director Stefan
Olsberg. "This new service is a simple way to collect patient views
with minimum cost and work. Because of its automated collection
facility, the service almost completely eliminates staff
involvement."
The new survey module allows patients to answer automated
questions about the performance of a surgery during a phone call or
using a touch screen in the surgery. Surveys can be anonymous, and
all results are automatically compiled into one central database.
GPs receive £1.10 per patient registered at the surgery in
both this and the next financial year.
The system can also be set to flag up special 'at risk' areas.
For example, if a patient indicates that they are a heavy
smoker, once they have completed the questionnaire they can be
directed to reception to find out about stop smoking sessions
offered by the surgery.
Established in 1991, Voice Connect has worked closely with PCTs
and GPs' surgeries across the UK for over 20 years. The company
provides a range of unified communication solutions for doctors'
surgeries, including their popular automated telephone appointment
booking system Patient Partner as well as Medical Messenger and
Smart Mail, a mailing service developed especially for GP
surgeries.