Hosted VoIP for GP Practices

Make sure your practice stays connected and collaborative with Hosted VoIP

What is hosted VoIP?
Map of Hosted VoIP in your practice
The benefits of hosted VoIP
Manage your phone platform online
What you get with ‘connect’
Download our VoIP guide
Conclusion
Book a demo

A Very Brief History of Telephony... (expand)

Before Hosted VoIP, back in the late 1800s phone systems began with PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Networks), which ran analogue voice signals through copper lines. This system served its purpose for the next 100 years or so, at which point ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) was introduced in the 1980s. ISDN used the same copper lines but it was able to send digital signals as well, resulting in better call quality and the potential to use more advanced data features.

But the issue with both of these systems is that they require costly infrastructure to be housed on-site, including PBX (Private Brach Exchange) systems, which are essentially a private telephone exchange housed within your premises. They’re also inflexible and limited in terms of the features they offer, and certainly not set up for remote working.

Delivering the best patient outcomes while struggling to operate with telephone systems that are no longer fit for purpose is an ongoing challenge for GP Practices.

Replacing the now dated PSTN and ISDN networks is SIP Trunking (Session Initiation Protocol), which allows you to make telephone calls through the internet via Hosted VoIP systems (Voice over Internet Protocol). With a decent internet connection, these cloud-based telephony systems deliver an enriched communications experience and allow your people to remain effective no matter where they are.

And importantly, BT’s ISDN and PSTN switch-off is set for 2025. So if you’re using traditional technology for your phone systems, its time will soon be up.

What is Hosted VoIP?

A Hosted VoIP phone system for your GP practice lets you make and take calls using an internet connection, by converting analogue sound into a digital format. In a sense, it’s much the same as using online tools such as WhatsApp or Skype to make calls.

Hosted VoIP provides all the capability of an advanced on-premise phone system, without the complex and pricey infrastructure. All the hardware and software is managed by a third party instead, through a cloud telephony platform – making CapEx a thing of the past. Aside from a handset or headset, an internet connection is all that is required. You use a simple web interface to make calls in a few clicks of a mouse.

Scalable, secure and able to deliver a superior patient experience, Hosted VoIP telephony solutions don’t just deliver conventional voice. They give GP surgeries the flexibility to take and make calls from anywhere; monitor and manage phone networks in real-time; and benefit from advanced and easy to use IP phone features such as call recording, auto-attendant, call queuing, instant messaging, hunt groups, conferencing and smart collaboration tools.

And as it’s cloud-based, you can rest assured you’ll always have access to the latest features, rather than risk being stuck with outdated on-premise systems.

Hosted VoIP in your practice

Staff on off-site activities can easily pick up calls via a Mobile App on iPhone & Android or a Softphone on a laptop.

All Agilico engineers have full, up to date DBS checks to ensure safety on premises.

Changes can be made in a few clicks, or Connect can be a fully managed service via a quick call to our UK Based, Tier 1 Support team – reducing overheads.

With cordless IP handsets, reception staff and on duty doctors can have their phone with them wherever they go on-site.

Bank Holidays and OOO scheduling – patients can be informed through pre-recorded messages.

Access Call Recording and Call Audit for handling complaints.

Inbound calls to reception can be managed at peak times using Call Queueing. Patients can reserve their phone positions and receive an automated call back.

Prescription requests calls can be managed by an auto attendant and placed in a call group or sent to voicemail which can be forwarded to email.

Multi-site licenses enable phones to be added to multiple sites, enhancing communications and call handling.

Keep Your Practice Connected

Agilico Connect enables practices to migrate from legacy phone systems to a scalable, secure Hosted VoIP telephony solution that can run across multiple sites.

Do the following sound familiar?

Limited phone lines
Long patient queue times
Legacy phone system
No call recording

Lack of call reporting
System cannot support remote working
Lack of multi-site support

Agilico Connect is here to help.

The Benefits of Hosted VoIP

Call queuing

Patients have the option to receive an automatic call back when they reach the front of the queue, significantly improving the patient experience and reducing complaints.

Greater scalability

Add users (seats) and features as and when you need them, only paying for what you actually need, not what you think you might need in the future.

Increased mobility

Your team will be able to stay connected, no matter where they are. No need for complicated call-forwarding when your team works remotely.

Continuity as standard

Should maintenance, disruption or a disaster cause an outage, you can divert calls in a few clicks, and get back up and running in no time.

Cost effective

Costly capital expenditure and line rental is no longer an issue. Everything is hosted in the cloud.

Monitor uptime and usage

You’ll be able to easily check the status of your phone lines and availability of your colleagues wherever they are.

Choose multiple phone numbers

Regardless of where you teams are, you can pick and choose relevant numbers for both staff to use and patients to call in on. You can also switch different teams or offices to chosen numbers as you wish.

Future proof

An on-premise phone system can quickly become outdated. Hosted VoIP will deliver the latest features to you as and when they’re released – no need to keep upgrading your systems.

Relocate with ease

If you move office or build additional teams in new locations, you can relocate your hosted VoIP system in no time – plus you can keep all your old numbers.

Keep Your Practice Connected

Manage Your VoIP Platform Online

With traditional phone systems, you had to rely on your service provider to update your settings for you, which often involved waiting for hours or even days for changes to be made.

With our cloud-based hosted VoIP platform – ‘Agilico Connect’ – you’re in total control.

‘Agilico Connect’ includes an intuitive online customer portal, featuring a powerful administrative management capability which gives users the freedom to customise their phone system quickly and effectively, from anywhere.

Assign numbers to users
Create corporate telephone directories
Create call groups
Upload music files for music on hold
Activate or edit call queuing
Set up call recording

Set up auto attendant
Activate time-based routing
Set any call barring policies
Set different presentation numbers
Monitor telephone usage and performance
View and share performance reports

What You Get With ‘Agilico Connect’

Give your people the power to perform and stay connected from any location, in today’s world of rapid and continuous change.

Standard

Unlimited calls: UK Landlines & UK Mobiles* (subject to fair usage policy)
Direct dial numbers (DDIs)
Voicemail to email
Video calling
Instant messaging
Smartphone app & softphone app
Presence feature & call activity
Auto attendant
Call queueing & hunt groups
Custom call stats & reporting
Time & date based routing for directing calls out of hours & holidays
Disaster recovery

Enhanced

Unlimited calls: UK Landlines & UK Mobiles* (subject to fair usage policy)
Direct dial numbers (DDIs)
Voicemail to email
Video calling
Instant messaging
Smartphone app & softphone app
Presence feature & call activity
Auto attendant
Call queueing & hunt groups
Custom call stats & reporting
Time & date based routing for directing calls out of hours & holidays
Disaster recovery
MS Teams integration
Call recording

Bolt Ons

MS Teams integration
Call recording
Calling via MS Teams
Professional hold messages

‘Agilico Connect’ Support Bundles

Remote Support Bundle

Bolt-On covers unlimited remote changes to platform, including:
Changes to ring groups
Portal support
Mobile & Desktop App Support

Onsite Support Bundle

20 SEAT MINIMUM

All Remote Support Bundle features, plus…
Handsets moves & swap out
Onsite Router, POE switch config where we have supplied connectivity

Download Our Hosted VoIP Guide

Download guide

Conclusion

The days of costly and inflexible telephony infrastructure are gone.

By simply using just an internet connection to run your surgery’s phone system, you’ll get all the capability of traditional telephony, plus enhanced capabilities to improve both the patient and staff experience.

Our cloud-based telephony and data solutions can help you build a more agile and robust communications platform for your team, while reducing costs and complexity.

Hosted VoIP is the way forward for medical practices and GP surgeries. Is your phone system holding you back?