Overview
A member of West Belfast Federation, Grosvenor Road Surgery is a busy GP practice serving around 10,000 patients from a single site. The practice has around 30 staff, including GPs, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, mental health practitioners and social workers. Working in an area of high deprivation, the surgery needed a more reliable and flexible communications system to better support patients and staff.
The challenge
Grosvenor Road Surgery experienced ongoing issues with its previous telephony provider, with patients often cut off after waiting in long queues. This led to complaints and frustration for both patients and staff. The team also struggled to easily customise the recorded messages that patients hear and lacked access to meaningful reporting data to improve services and plan resources.
The solution
The practice implemented X-on Health’s Cloud-based telephony system Surgery Connect alongside digital care navigation assistant Surgery Assist and centralised reporting dashboard Surgery Insights. Together, the integrated solutions provide more reliable patient access through flexible call handling and digital self-service, while giving the practice clearer visibility of demand and performance data.
Early results and impact
“The main benefit is the patients are more satisfied, especially with the patient callback option available through the phone and the digital assistant. Therefore they are more pleasant to the reception team, giving them more enjoyment in work.”
Nicole, Deputy Practice Manager
Within two months of going live, the practice achieved a 93% callback success rate through Surgery Connect, helping reduce frustration caused by repeat dialling and dropped calls.
The practice has also started seeing benefits from the customisable digital assistant, which saved 22 hours of practice time within the first two months. During this period, 441 patient conversations were handled through the chatbot, with 13% taking place out of hours. Following SMS signposting, 17% of patients did not need to call the practice, helping free up phone lines and staff time for patients with more complex needs who require direct support from the practice
From a clinical perspective, Surgery Connect’s Phonebar, which brings patient communications into a single desktop app, has improved efficiency and reduced the risk of incorrectly dialled numbers. With EMIS integration, Caren, GP, notes that it also “improves staff and patient experience and allows better use of team resources”.
Looking ahead
As the team continues to embed the system into daily workflows, Grosvenor Road Surgery is looking forward to exploring the wider benefits of Surgery Assist and Surgery Insights to further improve patient access and operational efficiency.
Summary
By implementing an intelligent care navigation system, Grosvenor Road Surgery has improved patient access, created efficiency through one click dialling, and reduced patient frustration. The practice has also gained greater visibility of patient demand and performance data, helping deliver better workforce planning and early efficiencies for patients.