Office Phone Systems

Davenport House Surgery is a busy practice in the heart of Harpenden supporting fifteen thousand patients. When the time came for practice manager Anthea Doran to review their telecommunications, service to patients was the first consideration, closely followed by a limited budget in which to achieve this.

Originally Davenport invested in a Toshiba DK56 telephone system to handle incoming calls. As the surgery grew and more functionality was required, Davenport upgraded their DK56 for a Toshiba CT and then to a CIX with a voicemail. This upgrade allowed Davenport to keep all their handsets and most of their cards in the system keeping cost to a minimum.

As with most surgeries, Davenport has to deal with large volumes of calls in the first hour of opening. In order to help deal with this, VSL installed an auto attendant to answer and distribute incoming calls. Following consultation with patients, it was decided that the number of options on the auto attendant was to be kept to a minimum to ensure it was simple for all patients to use.

At 8.20am Davenport start taking calls for appointment bookings, while routine enquires are encouraged to either call back after 10am or leave a message. As a result, appointments can be booked quicker and more calls can be handled. Additionally it provides time for receptionists to find out information for patients who have left enquiry messages and then call them back with the information in a more relaxed environment after 10am. Out of hours messaging is also handled by the auto attendant.

Ongoing support is critical for Davenport, as Head of reception, Ellie Pollock comments: 'On occasions when we have issues that need resolving, VSL's service department look after us very well, keeping us informed of progress every step of the way.'

The continued relationship with Davenport is testament to VSL's ability to understand a customers working practices, an un-pressured approach to selling and excellent customer service.