Overview
The Lister Surgery and The City Medical Practice, two practices operating from a single site, manage separate phone lines through one shared team. In June 2024, they switched to Surgery Connect to resolve long-standing issues with their previous system and align with their wider PCN on a modern, scalable solution.
The challenge
Their existing phone system was disjointed, unreliable and difficult to manage. Calls dropped sporadically, there was no queueing function and the lack of call options caused patient frustration. Retrieving call recordings required admin intervention and was far from real-time. The setup left staff demoralised and patients in the dark about their place in the queue or when to call for specific services.
The solution
Acting on strong recommendations from their PCN peers, the practices chose Surgery Connect for its proven technology, flexibility and future-proof design. Despite a busy installation day and some initial number porting issues, the X-on Health team responded quickly to resolve these. The switch to Surgery Connect gave the practice full control over their call flow and opened the door to a more intelligent, patient-focused phone system.
“The intelligent design of the new system allows for changes to be made to the call flow, supporting patient choice and education.”
Practice manager
Early results & impact
In the first month, the practices handled 6,651 calls with an average queue time of 7 minutes 35 seconds.
“We love the phone system – it has really transformed the whole 8.00am approach, not to mention calls throughout the day.”
Practice manager
The difference has been clear from day one. Patients now get the right options at the right time. For example, test results and prescriptions only become selectable after 10am, helping to manage call volumes. Beyond the improvement in data visibility like call queue wait times, the practices particularly enjoy using the callback feature where you can add messages to the phone line to let patients know when the appointment book is full, giving them the choice to stay on the line or hang up. This small change has made a big impact, noting patients are calmer and more understanding while also reducing the time staff spend on the phone with individual patients for increased productivity.
Looking ahead
Happy with the responsive customer support and excellent aftercare service, the team plans to build on this strong start by exploring triage-based call flows and taking full advantage of the callback functionality to manage patient demand even more efficiently.
Summary
By moving to Surgery Connect, The Lister Surgery and The City Medical Practice have replaced an outdated system with a flexible, intuitive solution that supports patient access and staff efficiency. The collaborative rollout, responsive support and practical features have already made a measurable difference, and there’s more to come.