Hospital helpline a hit with patients

PATIENTS have given a ringing endorsement to a call centre for the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Based at Fairfield Hospital, Bury, staff at Pennine Acute Trust’s customer contact centre deal with more than 20,000 calls a month from patients at its five hospitals.

They include the Royal Oldham, and it is the first point of contact for patients who want to book or cancel an outpatient appointment.

Staff use the latest telephone technology to answer calls, and their performance has been praised by people who use the service.

A satisfaction survey which sampled 220, or ten per cent of calls, taken during a seven-day period, revealed 96 per cent of patients felt their calls were answered within an acceptable time limit and the same number said their inquiry was dealt with effectively.

The service was rated as ‘excellent’ by nine out of ten callers.

Another study, over a four-month period, found nine out of ten calls were answered within 30 seconds.

Callers who don’t want to wait for an answer can use a call-back facility or email.

The call centre has also helped cut the number of people who fail to attend their outpatient appointments – an expensive problem which costs the trust more than £1 million a year through 7,500 absentees.

The customer contact centre is open weekdays from 8am to 8pm, and Saturdays 9am to 1pm on 0161 778 2233 or email booking@pat.nhs.uk