Matrix247 Medical E-Book 2019

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Contents…

• Introduction to Medical Sector
• An Effective Telecoms Platform

o Control your telephone system remotely
o Integrate your Medical CRM
• Staff Collaboration using Unified Communications
o Patient Engagement
• Telecom & Data Network Security
o Wi-Fi & Internet Access
o Data Networks
o Smartphone Video Consultations
• Effective Use of Secure Mobile Phones/Devices
o Mobile Device Management
o Machine 2 Machine Technology
• Video Conferencing Medical Solutions
o Telemedicine
o Patient Centred Care

“Matrix247 provides excellent support, with Warren providing
outstanding customer service. We have had many instances
where we have needed to tweak the system, and all have been
accommodated with professionalism and efficiency.”

Jerry Brees, Practice Manager, Fishergate Hill Surgery

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Introduction to Medical Industry…

GP surgeries and health centres require a friendly, prompt
and efficient service. When patients are calling with
concerns they will expect a quick response to their call,
therefore the telephony solution that is chosen must
accommodate these requirements.
Matrix247 Medical have developed, along with key
partners in the fields of telephony, mobile devices, data-
networks, security solutions and video conferencing,
solutions that significantly decrease unnecessary stress &
pressure on practice staff, whilst improving their
efficiency… naturally improving patient handling &
communication. We also use UK data centres which is a
key requirement for the NHS.
The question is, how can staff cope with the extended
hours and extra workload they are expected to honour
with the increased pressure being put on them?

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• Reduce ‘Did Not Attends’ –Provide your patients a
greater choice of suitable appointment times. This
reduces the number of ‘did not attends’.
Appointments are automatically confirmed in seconds
by text message, automatically sending the patient a
text reminder 24 hours prior to the appointment. Your
patients will also have a 24/7 access line to self-cancel
or move their appointment time.

• Integrate Existing Clinical Database – Allow your
patients to self-check-in on arrival with a touch screen
monitor or telephone, meaning morning congestion
on the reception phone is immediately relived.
Integration with the patient call system allows
announcements to the waiting room whilst displaying
the free practitioners name and room. All key
personal, practice managers and practitioners can
collect personal voicemails remotely 24/7 if required.

• Ease Stress & Pressure on Receptionists – The greatest
volume of calls occur within the first half-hour of a
surgery opening. Combine this with a queue of
patients and the result is the most stressful and least
favourite part of the receptionist’s day. It is also the
most common reason for staff leaving. Let patients
self-book their own appointments the previous
evening or overnight automatically. Patients can
simultaneously book, move or cancel their
appointments 24/7.

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• Reduce Communication Costs – Multi-site practices
can take advantage of voice and data over the
internet (VoIP & SIP) to reduce costs even further. Call
management software comes fully integrated with our
telephony solutions, providing greater cost control for
each practice.

• Improve Work-life Balance for GPs & Staff – Providing
a flexible patient self-booking system reduces the
requirement of GP practices to open at weekends.
This saves extra overhead expenses, energy and
reduces salary bills. It also improves the work-life
balance for GPs and staff which often has a negative
impact on morale. The self-booking system reduces
the security concerns linked to staff safety in mainly
empty premises. All these factors would in turn reduce
the requirement for further resource and support from
local healthcare services.

Did You Know?

• Missed patient appointments average 23-34% for
medical practices nationwide, with a significant loss
of income as a result.

• Automated outbound patient notification calls
reduce patient no-shows by more than 30%

Sources: Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)

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An Effective Telecoms Platform

The last thing healthcare professionals want is to cause
upset or stress to patients or staff by delivering a
frustrating telephone experience, yet that is exactly what
an inadequate system can create.
Many calls within a surgery could require urgent attention.
An effective telephony system can ensure certain calls can
be prioritised and patients are not left waiting on hold for
long periods of time, particularly in an emergency.
Our solutions help ease the ever-increasing pressure
placed on reception staff while streamlining day-to-day
tasks.

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Benefits include:

• Intelligent call handling to utilise back-room staff at
peak times to help minimise workload and route calls
to specific staff members.

• Auto attendant greets the caller, e.g. with a message
saying their call will be answered and ensures they
aren’t left listening to a ring tone. It helps cut down
the amount of time patients spend waiting in queues,
as patient’s enquiries for opening hours and other
information can be answered.

• Recorded messages to pass on vital information to
patients, e.g. out-of-hours contact numbers or the
surgery’s opening hours.

• Dedicated appointment mailbox to allow patients to
cancel appointments at any time.

• Call recording used to train and coach new staff. Also,
the doctor or nurse can have the ability to record the
entire call.

• Call reporting software to analyse the number of calls,
average daily waiting times, numbers of calls lost, etc.

• Call queueing allows patient’s calls to be queued
before they are delivered to a handset at the practice.

• Receptionist console helps reduce the time it takes for
a call to come in and be transferred to the necessary
department or individual. ‘Presence’ allows the
receptionist to check who is available before
transferring the call.

• Disaster recovery plan such as failing over to another
number ensures no calls are missed.

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We design solutions suitable for GP surgeries on the brink
of federating, forming localities or wanting to link
together as per their Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Control your telephone system remotely

Our hosted telephone systems enable practice managers
to log onto a web portal from anywhere they have an
internet connection to record a new greeting message.
They can also re-direct calls to other numbers, such as a
home number or a mobile, so staff that cannot get into
the surgery can take calls in case of an emergency.

A cloud-hosted telephone system can also help GPs who
cannot physically attend their appointments. Where
relevant, they can call their patients from home but the
number displayed to the patient is the surgery’s, not the
GPs personal number.

“Matrix247 has provided our Telephony and Cloud based system
for over 5 years, as a Community based Charity, effective and
efficient systems are really important to make sure we keep in
contact with our service users, this combined with a professional
service and competitive pricing mean that Matrix247 are our
contractors of choice.”

Gavin Williams, Trafford Carers

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Integrate your Medical CRM
General practice systems like EMIS, SystmOne and Vision
hold real-time patient data providing one-click access to
vital information. This improves the efficiency of all staff
while maximising your Quality and Outcomes Framework
(QOF) points. And with more points on board, GP
surgeries will be eligible for improved financial rewards.
The advantages of using a medical system like EMIS and
Vision is clear so the fact that we can integrate it with our
cloud-hosted telephone system is of huge benefit. If GP
surgeries can initiate calls from these records and see
screen pops of records when they receive incoming calls,
conversations will be smoother, more informed and more
efficient.
Coupled with the statistics that our solution provides,
practice managers can schedule their staff numbers
appropriately during the busiest call traffic times, while
call queuing technology, including announcements of
where patients are in the queue, will ensure there are no
missed calls. Integration can keep a record of call history
and interactions with patients.

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Benefits in summary:
• Click to dial – for a better customer experience
• Caller preview – to route calls quickly and
efficiently
• Automatic popping of the EMIS/Vision contact
page – for instant access to information
• Reliable and scalable – to ensure patients and
doctors can communicate at all times
• Secure solution – to comply with NHS
requirements

Matrix247 can also integrate its hosted telephony solution
with the alternative CRM, SystmOne, and with the
appointment booking service Patient Partner.
With a hosted solution surgeries/medical centres can
handle many calls (e.g. 25 calls) at the same time and
reassures patients that their call is going to be picked up
with an auto-attendant, so they don’t experience an
engaged tone.

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Staff Collaboration using Unified
Communications (UC)

Patients today have many choices of healthcare providers,
and they have high expectations of their patient
experience. With the capability to seamlessly integrate
collaboration applications no matter the device or
location, UC can improve staff and patient
communications and overall hospital productivity. Use a
range of helpful tools such as:

• Voice and video conferencing
• Document sharing
• Instant messaging
• Availability Visibility

We assist in keeping staff connected with the same user
experience – mobile or desktop. These all help to improve
the speed and ease of communication regardless of
location or the device being used. A great aid with
automating clinical workflows.

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Patient Engagement

Ensuring that patients follow discharge orders, attend
follow-up appointments and engage in other post-
treatment activities requires hospitals to offer technology
interventions that allow patients to efficiently participate
in their care and collaborate with their providers.

Patient Portals

• UC enhances patient portals with telephony
features

• Patients can utilise convenient call back or live web
chat tools

• Hospitals improve patient engagement across all
points of care

• Result: Patients and providers are more engaged

Automated Notifications

• UC can automate outbound reminder calls and
other notifications

• Patients receive timely reminders of appointments
• Result: Hospitals proactively engage patients and

lower re-admission rates

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Telecom & Data Network Security

Keep control of your call costs and enjoy the benefits of:

• Fraud management
• Line care guarantee
• Local UK based support desk with our lines and

minutes service

By logging into our web portal, you can manage your call
traffic at any time. We can provide your health centre with
DDI (direct dial-in) numbers to relieve the stress on
reception staff and reduce call costs to mobiles to keep
your bills to a minimum while ensuring disaster recovery
options are embedded within each solution delivered.

Wi-Fi & Internet Access

Whether you want to offer Wi-Fi in your waiting rooms or
want to link critical services e.g. nurse call, alarms or
paging services, our experts can design a strong solution
that will meet your immediate requirements whilst
building in flexibility to accommodate mid and long-term
needs.

Data Networks

We design and implement a range of wired and wireless
secure data networks to link multiple sites and allow
flexible working.

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Smartphone Video Consultations

A 24-hour service has been launched for NHS patients,
offering GP consultations via video link on smartphones.*
This scheme is initially covering 3.5 million patients in
greater London.

This provides patients the ability to check their symptoms
through the mobile app and have video consultations
with a doctor within two hours of booking.

The scheme not only relies on patients using smartphones
and tablets, but also on their internet connectivity. This
initiative could be an ideal solution for rural parts of the
UK where the distance to a surgery, hospital or clinic is an
issue, but these are often the areas where internet
connectivity speeds and reliability is poor.

The available internet connectivity not only has to be
robust enough for the patient but for the GP surgery too.
Even if the patient can benefit from the rollout of fibre
broadband or the growing number of 4G masts going up
around the country, if the surgery has limited connectivity,
then this initiative is destined to fail.

It is maddening enough to suffer the frozen pictures or
disconnected links on a social video call, but it could be
very distressing for a patient trying to describe their
symptoms or attempting to listen to their doctor’s advice.

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This is the time for GP surgeries to test their internet
connectivity and upgrade to an improved and reliable
internet solution to ensure patients can benefit from these
video link consultations.
It may even be worth investing in a separate connection
for these video calls.
The return on the investment to the surgery will be easy
to measure in terms of decreased face-to-face
appointments, waiting times and wasted appointments.
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41884142

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Effective Use of Secure Mobile
Phones/Devices

To best optimise the exchange of patient information and
treatments between medical sector professionals, staff
must collaborate efficiently, effectively and securely.

Most healthcare professionals are already using their own
mobile devices to text co-workers about job-related
topics. Texting is an extremely fast and efficient way to
communicate on the job. It helps staff avoid the delays
and frustrations associated with unanswered phone calls
and telephone tag. However, unless texting capabilities
are implemented in a way that complies with regulatory
requirements, these communications can put information
security and privacy at risk.

Clinicians enjoy a dual persona: one device – two numbers
– work and personal. This is done securely with mobile
device management. This means your personal data (e.g.
images, videos, texts) is on a separate part of your mobile
device and your work information (e.g. patient records,
emails) is kept in a password protected part of your
mobile device meaning patient details and clinical data is
secure.

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Mobile Device Management (MDM)

MDM is enabling IT to control the securing, monitoring,
integrating and managing of mobile devices such as
smartphones/tablets/laptops in the workplace/GP surgery.
It’s a necessity for all companies; small, medium and large,
who have a mobile workforce and are conscious about
security. The purpose of MDM is to optimise the
functionality and security of mobile devices, whilst also
protecting the network and any medical data that has
been downloaded or synced to the mobile device.

The security, protection and management of mobile
devices couldn’t be more important right now as
organisations face multiple challenges deploying
smartphones to their workforce. With mobile device
attacks on the rise, there is a common risk of confidential
data falling into the wrong hands. For the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR), MDM is yet another area
that the IT department needs to consider. How do you
ensure compliance of GDPR when staff and physicians
access data out of the office?

Did You Know?

• 73% send and receive work-related texts UNSECURELY
• 90% of staff bring their personal smart devices to work
• 1000 physicians surveyed – 95% frequently use text

messages UNSECURELY
• Multi-professional care teams spend at least 25% of their

time on comms-based activities.
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Sources: KLAS Wireless Security Report, KU Medical School Survey,
Spyglass Consulting Report and Fierce Mobile Healthcare.

Why does your practice need Mobile Device
Management?

• Security - Safeguard your medical data by detecting
security threats e.g. non-compliant and jailbroken
devices.

• Control - Manage issues of security, complexity and
bring-your-own-device in mobile environments.

• Confidence - Satisfaction that your patient records are
secure.

• Tracking - Keep track of staff with device location,
identification map and 24/7 visibility of hardware
information and device details including model, serial
number, version and operating system.

• Remote manage your medical mobile devices - Via
the online portal so you can view all employee devices
and configure them remotely.

• Instant Messaging - Communicate with your staff
instantly.

• Preserve company data - Have the ability to remotely
wipe devices containing any confidential patient data.

• Business management reporting - Helping you
understand device hardware, software and agent
usage.

• Expense Management - Monitor data usage in real-
time and set alerts accordingly.

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Machine 2 Machine Technology
Machine-to-machine, or M2M, describes any technology
that enables networked devices to exchange information
and perform actions without the manual assistance of
humans.
In telemedicine, M2M devices can enable the real-time
monitoring of patients' vital statistics, dispensing medicine
when required, or tracking healthcare assets.
On the next page are some examples of M2M technology
and how it can benefit your surgery.

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• Pillboxes with embedded sensors report to a doctor if
the patient is taking their medications on time and
correctly. The device knows if a pill has been removed
from the box and helps prevent accidental overdose.
The device can also be programmed for family
members to receive alerts if a loved one has forgotten
to take their medicine.

• A SIM card linked to a thermometer in a fridge
containing medicine in a surgery or hospital can be
monitored remotely and have alerts sent when there is
any change in temperature. The fridge can then be
checked, and medication moved if required, meaning
there’s less risk of the medication being spoiled and
having to be destroyed.

• Internal heart rate monitors or those worn by the
patient can be monitored at home instead of staying
in hospital. Readings can be sent back to the hospital
to be analysed. This can also be used where patients
are required to take their own blood pressure and
send the readings back to their doctor.

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Video Conferencing Medical Solutions

Matrix247 have partnered with Polycom, who delivers more
than 25,000 patient encounters per month worldwide –
saving time, money and lives.

Healthcare organisations all over the world are turning to
Polycom video collaboration solutions to improve care
and reduce cost. Collaborative healthcare solutions enable
telemedicine, patient centred care, multi-disciplinary team
support, reduction of unnecessary re-hospitalisations, and
collaboration across the entire healthcare team
independent of physical barriers.

There are many reasons why eight of the top 10 hospitals
and the top ten pharmaceutical companies worldwide are
Polycom customers. Remote and rural healthcare
organisations face not only the challenge of providing
cost-effective quality care, but also making sure that there
is access to experts, even if they are located miles away at
a centre of excellence. They may face extreme weather
conditions, or roads that become impassable during
certain times of the year. Transporting patients to distant
facilities may be impossible or extremely costly. Virtually
connecting for care over video can save lives and maintain
that healthcare service connection even if there is a
physical separation.

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Healthcare solutions include:

• Enable collaboration across healthcare teams
• Better outcomes and more timely access to care
• Reduce unnecessary hospitalisations
• Educate patients and healthcare providers

regardless of location
• Enable faster onboarding of new professionals
• Support better chronic disease management
• Support prevention and wellness programs
• Improve patient care by providing more convenient

access to specialist expertise
• Provide better utilisation of specialists
• Survey, test, and confirm success of disease

management programs
• Enable easier access to success metrics for auditing

and confirmation of success

Telemedicine

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Telemedicine doctors can connect securely and easily with
patients from their computers, personal devices or a video
system. HD audio and video help simulate in-person
experiences for telepsychiatry, speech therapy, telestroke
exams and many other applications. Integration of
Polycom solutions into EHR systems, such as EPIC, allows
doctors or nurses to chart directly during a remote
session.

• Reduce unnecessary re-hospitalisations utilising
collaborative solutions from Polycom for case
management, discharge planning and support of
patients with chronic disease

• Enable live video collaboration between community
health centres, hospitals, primary care physicians,
specialists and patients

• Deliver expertise at a distance for specialty services
like TeleStroke, TeleMental Health, and Primary Care

• Support experts on the go with mobility solutions
that bring video to their tablets, and iPhones.

• Utilise collaborative video for correctional
telemedicine to avoid costly, unnecessary and risky
prisoner transports to hospital

• Support multi-disciplinary teams over live video to
deliberate, and confer on patient cases

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Patient Centred Care

Any organisation that has the responsibility for public
health has an interest in anything that will make their
programs more effective. Connecting directly to people in
their homes and to community centres increases the
chances of educating them about health. This in turn
decreases patient morbidity and overall cost in the future.

Have the ability to empower patients with information
and provide access for better compliance and more
informed decisions.

Collaborative video solutions enable:

• Better discharge planning and transition of care,
expert care in local health centres

• Improved collaboration with healthcare teams,
peers and family

• Increased access to prevention and wellness
programs

Benefits of Patient Centred Care Include:

• Fewer re-hospitalisations, reducing cost
• Improved patient compliance and outcomes
• Decreased cost of care
• Better medication management with fewer errors
• Decreased development of chronic and acute

diseases
• Enhanced hospital reputation

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See our case studies online to see
how we have helped other doctor
surgery’s and care homes with their
communications solutions to reduce
Did Not Attends, Reduce Costs and
Improve their Broadband Speeds.

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