I founded Optimum Healthcare Solutions Group in 2003 when I identified a huge gap in the market for end-to-end treatment and rehabilitation.
In my 20 years of experience as a senior physiotherapist, I have worked with a number of clients that often fail to continue with their prescribed gym sessions and complete their rehabilitation process properly.
As one of the biggest physiotherapy companies in the UK, we wanted to ensure that our customers still received the best customer service and personalised treatment possibl
As a result, I formed Optimum Healthcare Solutions Group – a one-stop-shop for individuals and large corporations that incorporates four integrated departments: Optimum Physiotherapy, Optimum Neurotherapy, Optimum Fitness and Optimum Elite Fitness, all of which work together to provide full assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and performance continuum for all our patients. It is now one of the main regional healthcare providers in the UK.
The business has grown rapidly since day one because of the services we’ve brought under one roof and because of the partnerships with insurance companies, which now refer their clients onto us. The loyalty we’ve formed with these companies has been built on our ability to turn each case around efficiently while providing the best possible care. As a result, we now operate 23 clinics providing specialist care across seven UK counties.
As the business grew communication with stakeholders and across clinics was absolutely vital. From the get-go, we required technology that would not only enable us to provide flawless communications with all stakeholders, but would also adapt to the rapid growth of the business – and RingCentral’s cloud-based phone system hasn’t let us down.
The personal touch
As one of the biggest physiotherapy companies in the UK, we wanted to ensure that our customers still received the best customer service and personalised treatment possible. But with our previous on-premise PBX telephone system, we had just four incoming telephone lines and around 500 inbound and outbound calls a day. This meant that customers were kept on hold for much longer than they needed to be.
As a company that thrives on the best customer service, we are driven by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). But we realised we weren’t achieving these for the time taken to answer customer calls. We considered getting more ISDN lines on our existing system, but it meant we’d be spending three to four times as much and as a small business, this just wasn’t financially feasible for us. But, thanks to the cloud-based telephone system from RingCentral, we now have 32 lines for the price we used to pay for just four ISDN lines.
To improve the patient experience even further, we’ve introduced a smartphone app, My Physio App, which delivers exercise programmes straight to our patients’ smartphones and tablets. People don’t leave messages any more – they just hang up if they can’t get through to someone quickly. That’s why we ensure patients can quickly make an appointment online or by calling in, making all interactions with us as easy and efficient as possible.
Efficient and easy-to-use technology
With our previous on-premise telephone system, the biggest challenge we faced was the complexity of using it, which required external engineers to administrate and maintain it. As a result, we researched alternative technology that would be easy to use and programme for the senior management team.
I’ve personally been a huge advocate of cloud technology like RingCentral’s cloud telephone system ever since I was a lone practitioner in 2005. The technology enabled me to divert calls from my office to my home very easily and meant I could take customer calls and remain professional regardless of my location.
One of the biggest advantages of using cloud technology is that it’s so easy to implement and use. All our staff are much more comfortable using the cloud-based telephone system we have in place, and can even reprogramme it without any additional technical support.
One team, one cloud
With 32 staff distributed across 23 clinics in seven counties across the UK, our workforce is very dispersed, so it’s essential that internal communication is at an all-time high.
Staff retention is important and I’m a huge advocate of cloud technology that enables staff to lead flexible lives
Some of my physicians run our clinics on their own. But information-sharing across all our clinics is vital, especially in our line of work where communicating a customer’s medical history is necessary if they visit physicians in a number of our clinics. So I think it’s essential all staff still feel they are a part of a wider team. We use cloud technology to connect all our staff and share information easily. Our phone system allows staff to contact colleagues in different locations through an allocated extension number, and we also use a cloud-based clinical system to securely share notes.
Staff retention is important and I’m a huge advocate of cloud technology that enables staff to lead flexible lives. This means they can work from home or remotely when they need to and still be securely connected to office. In fact, an employee that has recently had to relocate to Germany for her husband’s job, but thanks to our cloud-based phone system, clinical system and the cloud desktops we’re about to launch, she can still remain employed by us and work remotely via the cloud.
Future growth through innovation
At Optimum Healthcare Solutions Group, we fully embrace cloud technology and plan to continue exploring new technology to gain a competitive edge. We already have a Physio Advice Line in place, where customers can call in and seek advice from physicians if they can’t make it into their nearest clinic for a face-to-face consultation.
We are now planning to experiment with video, and allow patients to send in videos of strength and conditioning work they are doing at home to seek further advice from physicians. We see huge potential in telemedicine and want to stay at the forefront of the healthcare industry. In the next couple of months, we’re looking to take the work we already do in this area even further and are very excited at the prospect of experimenting with HD video conferencing as a way of connecting our physicians to patients remotely for real-time consultations.
I want to provide the best possible customer service and lead the evolution in this sector. If this means putting my head on the block to achieve a business edge then, so be it
I’ve built my business from the ground up and I want to be the best at what I do – I want to be the best employer, I want to provide the best possible customer service and lead the evolution in this sector. If this means putting my head on the block to achieve a business edge then, so be it. It’s easy to sit in a comfort zone and stick with what you know but businesses need to be prepared to take a risk to move forward and embrace new suppliers and new technologies.
