Medi-Call provides personal alarm systems to the elderly and infirm. Customers are principally those people who live alone, preferring to stay in their own homes rather than be looked after in some form of institutional care or with family.
The customer has a small transmitter/receiver, which can be worn as a pendant or on the wrist like a watch. If the customer has a problem they press the button on the pendant, which activates a base station located at the customer’s telephone. The base station calls Medi-Call’s contact centre, which provides 24/7 cover to ensure maximum reassurance for its customers. Medi-Call’s agent will attempt to establish contact with the customer. Because the transmitter is so sensitive, it is possible to carry out a conversation up to 50 metres away from the base station. Medi-Call’s staff are trained to provide immediate reassurance to the caller, who is likely to be confused and frightened.
Each customer provides a number of contact numbers, including neighbours and immediate family. If there is a problem, as for example an elderly person having fallen and not being able to get up, the normal procedure is for Medi-Call to alert the closest neighbours, asking them to visit and call back. If required, Medi-Call will alert emergency services and also contact family members if appropriate.
The call centre deals with a wide range of demands:
• Emergency calls. These result in Medi-Call agents being on the phone for an average of 30 minutes. This time may be spread over a number of calls to the customer, neighbours, family and so on. Each emergency call requires an average of 8 minutes’ administration time to ensure records are kept up to date – this is normally completed immediately after the call is completed and definitely before the agent completes their shift.
• Technical enquiries. These calls normally come from new customers, unsure about the function of the equipment. The average duration of these calls is 5 minutes, with 1 minute associated administration time.
• Reassurance calls. Medi-Call encourages customers to ring the call centre about once a month to check that the equipment is working properly. Many elderly customers spend long periods by thmeselves at home and see this as an opportunity to have a rather longer conversation than is strictly necessary. Medi-Call considers this as part of the service it provides. The average reassurance call lasts about 6 minutes, with 1 minute associated administration time FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC CLICK HERE
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