In healthcare, you have patients, not customers. Unlike in any other business, the people who come to you have no choice but to accept your services. In some cases, they won’t even be paying upfront. This can lead to difficult interactions, and increased pressure to get things right. You’re sure to need to work harder to keep patients coming back to you. As such, you need to think fast if you notice that your patients are losing patience with your services. Luckily, there tend to be some common causes. We’re going to look at what they are, and how you can address them.
There’s always a long wait on the phone
If patients have to try time and again to get through to you, their whole interaction is sure to suffer. They’ll be lacking in patience before they even speak to a member of your team. Even worse, a wait like this is sure to stand out to the customer as they’ll have to sit and wait without being able to do much else. That could make even a half hour wait seem colossal. One way around this would be to put a call waiting system in place. This ensures customers don’t need to keep hanging up and a calling back. It also gives them some sign of when they can expect to speak to someone. Failing that, you may prefer to implement online booking systems. These ensure any customer can book at any time without having to wait at all.
But they still have to wait for appointments
Even if you sort the phone situation, patience will be hard to come by if patients have to wait a week or more before they can book. This is one of the most frustrating realities in healthcare today. Sick people are simply struggling to get the care they need when they need it. Make sure that doesn’t happen in your practice by being aware of this. Try to keep at least a few appointment slots each day for emergencies. You could even increase your staff to make sure no one has to wait longer than a day or two.
And then there’s a wait for treatment
So, your phone lines are sorted, and there are always appointments. The trouble is that your ordering system’s shot, so you don’t have the treatments you need to hand. As such, patients have to go away and book again before you can make them feel better. This, more than anything else, is sure to break the camel’s back. Don’t let it happen by keeping a decent stock in-house with the help of options like the best dental software from companies like Zen Supplies. By bringing ease to ordering, this ensures that you’re always able to offer treatment on the day.
These are simple solutions, each of which can work wonders for your patient relations. Before you know, you’ll be able to keep hold of patients and make sure they’re happy with every service you provide.
