CASE STUDY
Chase Lodge Hospital
Based in Mill Hill London, is a hospital run by GPs providing patient and family-centred General Practice including outpatient clinics.
Background
Chase Lodge Hospital‘s main method of communication with their patients was to use voice but their ageing phone system was not providing the functionality users or patients were requesting, or regulatory compliance the industry demand.
The challenge
The existing voice solution relied on legacy Cisco IP handsets that offered only basic functionality and no compatible app for remote or flexible working. This meant that a number of users had business mobile phones in order to achieve mobility, with all the additional expense and lack of features this would entail. The service offered to patients in terms of call routing and out-of-hours options needed improving too. And at the same time, in order to ensure regulatory compliance, the hospital needed a voice recording solution that was PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant.
Petros Kareklas, Hospital Manager for Chase Lodge, explains further: “Our existing system had worked well for a number of years but more recently, especially during COVID and post-pandemic, it was apparent that users and patients expected more from us and that we needed new technology to deliver better services and solutions. We were introduced to Holler from our IT support company, Sherr Technologies, and it was immediately apparent that they understood our business and what technologies would benefit our staff and patients”.
The solution
Deploying technology in the healthcare industry introduces new challenges not least of which is ensuring minimal downtime and attention paid to the project management to ensure minimum disruption.
Holler deployed our award-winning CallSwitch platform as the cloud voice solution to Chase Lodge Hospital, which is load balanced within GCS (Google Cloud Services). New handsets were provided which offered HD audio, WiFi, Bluetooth and gigabit connectivity with a high-res colour screen showing the Chase Lodge logo, and new apps were provided for desktop and softphone users to provide a lot more functionality and third-party integrations. These integrations included working with Semble, their patient record CRM system, for features such as screen-popping of incoming calls and click-to-dial.
Richard Burbage, CEO of Holler Technology, went on to say “at the heart of patient satisfaction is timely and reliable communication. Our cloud voice solution ensured Chase Lodge were able to improve further on the service they offered to their patients and also ensure regulatory compliance with regards to technology. Using new feature such as Presence and Chat and Teams Integration adds real value to how the internal users communicate with one another. Feedback from staff has already been very positive”.
Our Result
The new solution will deliver cost savings by negating the need for staff to carry a second business mobile and also ensure their presence and availability is accurately conveyed to their co-workers by using the CallSwitch softphone app. With new features such as Whisper Paging and Barge-In receptionists can convey important messages or calls waiting to busy GPs or consultants. And with the system-wide voice recording both staff and patients can feel secure that all verbal communication is recorded and can be referenced at a later date if need be.
As Chase Lodge Hospital continues to grow in 2024 with the opening of new theatres, they can be assured they have the communication platform underpinning their business that will adapt to their future needs.
