Gayton Veterinary

Gayton Veterinary Group in Redhill, Surrey has two busy clinics for domestic pets and a dedicated and specialist equine division to serve the horse owners of Surrey and the surrounding areas. One of the practice’s most vital services is providing emergency visits out of hours – during the night and at weekends. To ensure its customers and patients always receive the best possible service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, GVG felt it was time to upgrade its telephone system to reduce reliance on staff to answer calls out of hours when the vets are oncall or client appointments..

Gayton identified several features that would help improve its service to its clients, including:

• Out of hours divert for emergency calls only – the existing system diverted all calls, from general enquiries and sales calls to emergencies – wasting the on-call vet’s time and slowing down their response time.
• Remote system access and programming – an essential requirement if the out of hours emergency number needs to be changed.
• Integrated off-site pagers – when the on-call vet’s mobile is out of range, individual pagers would ensure that the vet is always contactable. –
• Ability to upgrade to Unified - Messaging – a veterinary clinic is a fax intensive operation and Gayton wanted a system that would be able to reduce paperwork and paper trail with Unified Messaging with fax integration.

Raymond Heathcote, BVM&S, MRCVS, senior partner at GVG says,
“Our main focus is to treat our patients as quickly and effectively as possible, with special emphasis on our out of hours service for emergency cases. Out of normal office hours we rely on our telephone system to divert all emergency calls to the on-call vet’s
mobile phone. The practice has expanded with an increasingly demanding customer base over recent years and to ensure we can
continue to offer a smooth and speedy service we felt it was time to upgrade our telephone system.” GVG approached several
communications companies to supply an appropriate solution. GVG awarded Opus Business Systems in Mitcham the contract. Proposing the Ascotel ‘IP Ready’ ISDN telephone system from Ascom, Opus could provide GVG a highly flexible system that was able to address a number of key issues and improve customer service. This included a flexible Auto Attendant that can filter emergency from general enquiry calls to an appropriate destination, including an upgrade path to full Unified Messaging. Opus also provided full project management, installation and ongoing support services. With AIMS (Ascotel Information Management Software) Ascom’s Service Centre is able to provide on site and full remote system and diagnostic support, including remotely programming system changes, even changing feature keys on individual DECT cordless handsets as and when required.

In addition, converting its exchange lines to ISDN has enabled GVG to optimise line usage and reduce costs. All calls, faxes, email and internet access are routed through the Ascotel system using DDI (Direct Dial In), via the Basic Rate ISDN lines, improving efficiency and speed and enabling GVG to rationalise the number of different lines connected to the site thereby significantly reducing the overall line rentals..

Auto Attendant Filters Calls
With the option of 39 different outgoing messages, the Ascotel’s Auto Attendant ensures GVG can easily provide customer options and filter emergency calls from general enquiries. The caller has a choice, to leave a general message or stay on the line to be transferred to the vet on-call via the ISDN network. The caller is then transferred to an analogue extension to which the tonecaller will be connected. The tone-caller diverts the call to the mobile of the vet on-call – the vet will recognise the call from the office and therefore know it must be an emergency and respond accordingly.

Remote Programming allows Flexibility
Using a PIN number, Gayton can remotely programme Ascotel’s divert feature. This includes being able to turn it on or off and also change the number to which the calls are diverted, allowing the vets to share the out of hours workload over a weekend or a particularly busy period.

Integrated Pagers ensures Emergencies Always Get Through
There are times when GVG’s vet on-call has no network signal on the mobile. With the Ascotel system and integrated pagers a call that cannot be connected to the mobile is diverted back to the office on a separate DDI, which is answered by the Emergency Messages Mailbox. The greeting then tells the caller that the mobile of the vet is currently out of range and asks them to leave a detailed message with contact details. These are then paged immediately to the vet who will contact the caller as soon as possible.

One System for Two Sites
The Ascotel system allows vets and support staff at both of Gayton’s sites to call each other using an internal extension number or just by inputting a name, just as if they were in the same building.

Mark Sanderson, Opus Business Systems says, “Due to Gayton Veterinary Groups’s requirements, it was clear that the Ascotel system from Ascom would provide the best overall solution. Not only does it significantly improve call handling with the Auto Attendant and ability to filter and divert emergency calls to the appropriate vet on-call, but it also provides a clear upgrade path with unified messaging being a key requirement in the future for example. Ascotel’s open architecture also allows GVG to add on further features as and when required, including Computer Telephony Integration for their customer databases and being able to integrate Voice over IP for their other practices.”

A Summary of the Benefits

• Ascotel’s flexible Auto Attendant filters emergency calls from general enquiries, allowing Gayton to divert emergency calls only, improving the on-call vet’s response time.
• Ascotel’s External Remote Control feature is an essential requirement when the number needs to be changed during out of office hours allowing total remote flexibility.
• Integrated pagers ensure that the vet on-call is always contactable.
• The option to upgrade to Unified Messaging to integrate all messages, including fax, to reduce paperwork and allow easy prioritisation.
• The open architecture of the Ascotel system allows for future developments, including DECT, cordless handsets, CTI and VoIP.
• AIMS software allows Opus Business Systems to enter the system remotely to provide on site and off site system support if necessary.

Gayton Veterinary