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Doctorcall has developed the first fully-functioning virtual call centre for doctors. Our system replaces call handlers, so patients and clients can log in and place calls directly into our system, seeing all the information including ETAs, doctor-tracking and real-time medical reports. The system is designed so that you do not need to identify yourself or re-agree our terms and conditions: All you need to do is log in, see what we can do to help and log your case including any specific instructions; we do the rest. Our system is smart so it learns from every case it handles. It has now handled over 10,000 cases, so it is already more experienced than our most experienced call handlers.
Objectives
Our aim was to take human error and delay out of the equation and to use the experience of every case to enhance the handling of the next case so we could model the behaviour of the best call handlers to optimise case management. In addition, we wanted to add new capability including prevailing traffic and remembering detailed specific instructions for thousands of different clients and patients.
Resources
We raised significant funds to develop a system designed to replace much of our back office. We identified a brilliant software developer who had relevant experience in logistics and an excellent record for innovation, but who was – unfortunately for us – based in Russia. We booked out our best administrators and doctors and we brought the software team over from Russia and worked closely with them on a first draft of the system. We then ran it alongside our existing systems whilst we fine-tuned it and eventually turned it on to replace the existing systems.
Impact
The results have been transformative: Providing instant accurate ETAs, real-time reports and identifying delays early to start pulling in back-up doctors has made our service far smoother and more efficient. We have now put over 10,000 patients through the system and they have been handled more efficiently than before. We still have a 24/7 team of administrators to manage exceptions but we have nevertheless been able to reduce staff numbers and to pass significant savings on to our Assistance Company clients: After decades of inflationary price increases, our prices have come down this year for the first time in our history.
Outcomes and Achievements
We now have a system that has distilled the knowledge and skill required to run a mobile urgent care service and we are in a position to roll it out to other territories. Medical innovation falls into a number of categories: Drugs, devices, surgical procedures, AI (Artificial Intelligence) doctors and AI doctors’ offices. Of these, our territory, AI doctors’ offices, is not the most glamorous but it makes a significant difference to healthcare delivery and we are proud to now be the leaders in it.