Contact centres
NHS Kent Community Health Trust case study: BT Cloud
Read the NHS Kent Community Health Trust and BT Cloud Case Study. Learn the details of implementing a BT Optimise Cloud Contact virtual contact centre solution.
October 29, 2019
5 minutes
Contact centres
NHS Kent Community Health Trust case study: BT Cloud
Read the NHS Kent Community Health Trust and BT Cloud Case Study. Learn the details of implementing a BT Optimise Cloud Contact virtual contact centre solution.
October 29, 2019
5 minutes
The trust was spread out across several small offices each with their own phone systems, making referrals, admissions and specialist care complex and waiting times long.
A flexible and scalable virtual contact centre able to handle multiple systems, all fulfilled using BT’s Cloud Contact system – which only needs a broadband connection to operate.
Changing the way enquiries are routed and managed has made a clear difference. Appointments are handled more quickly, and the outcomes can be monitored and managed.
As a legacy of the most recent NHS reorganisation, Eldon Macarthur inherited a scattering of small offices across the county of Kent, each with its own phone arrangements. It wasn’t an option to physically move people and assets around. So how else could referrals and patient services be better co-ordinated?
BT Optimise Cloud Contact provided the perfect answer. Now, phone numbers have been rationalised and staff are being organised into virtual teams, each able to handle multiple services.
Eldon’s already seen enhanced business resilience and more flexible working, while productivity and patient services have also improved.
The solution
BT not only offered the best value, but also we had confidence in its ability to provide excellent service. The virtual contact centre market is comparatively new, so you really need a supplier you can rely on for the long term.
The trust was also attracted by BT Optimise Cloud Contact multichannel functionality.
Although the initial implementation involved voice calls only, the trust saw the ability to combine voice, email and web interactions into one universal queue as an attractive feature. As a pay-as-you-go service, BT Optimise Cloud Contact is cost effective too. It requires minimal upfront capital investment in the face of today’s restricted healthcare budgets.
The BT Optimise Cloud Contact platform will enable Kent Community Health NHS Trust to set up trust-wide phone numbers for individual services like wheelchair service provision, district nursing, physiotherapy, and many more besides. Requiring only a broadband internet connection and no extra onsite hardware, people right across the county will be able to act as virtual contact centre agents.
The trust ordered an initial 50 licenses, enabling five virtual teams to be assembled from staff members in different locations working together collaboratively.
The trust now has central phone numbers for the ambulance service, GPs and other health professionals, as well as for patients. BT Optimise Cloud Contact interactive voice response (IVR) functionality means customers can self-serve for simple matters like wheelchair return, while skills-based routing delivers more complex calls directly to the person best able to deal with it.
“Furthermore, the system can prioritise call handling so that, for example, medical emergencies take precedence over routine appointment bookings,” says Eldon Macarthur.
The rollout started with the Swale CCG in Sheppey. After its first full year of operation, the virtual contact centre is working in different locations across the Swale, Dartford, West Kent, Ashford, Canterbury and South Kent Coast CCGs. The trust’s health and wellbeing services – including Stop Smoking, Healthy Weight, Health Checks, Health Trainers and the Expert Patient Programme – have also invested in the system.
Each site had its own exacting requirements, some with six different service partitions and five telephone numbers. This meant as many as 30 different calls flows had to be designed by BT and programmed into the system. On hand throughout, BT showed staff how to use the system as well as providing training on reprogramming. For instance, call prioritisation can now be adjusted in minutes by the trust’s own people using the intuitive BT Optimise Cloud Contact web-based interface.
The in-built flexibility of the BT Optimise Cloud Contact platform earns it a vote of confidence.
Reducing hospital admissions
This has been an evolutionary process. For example, we’ve learned that a virtual contact centre will enable us in the future to offer affordable county-wide 24/7 service from a single contact centre location.
As a cloud-based service, the virtual contact centre is almost limitlessly scalable. So plans to invite social services teams at Kent County Council to join, will in no way stretch its capabilities.
Moreover, using the BT Optimise Cloud Contact web interface, more agents can be added quickly, or different skillsets assigned to call queues, without calling on expensive technical knowledge.
About
- Client details
The NHS Kent Community Health Trust is one one of the largest in the UK, serving nearly 1.5 million residents
- Size
Over 300 sites across Kent
- Industry
Public healthcare
- Location
Kent
Related products and solutions
- BT Optimise Cloud Contact
