Routine calls an assistant can take
- Booking, moving and cancelling appointments, with the right length for each type of visit.
- Visiting hours, directions and general information.
- Billing and insurance questions that have standard answers.
- Collecting the reason for the call, so the right desk has the context.
What must never wait
- A caller who describes an emergency or urgent symptoms goes straight to triage, without a script and without a queue of questions first.
- A caller asking for a nurse goes to the nurse line.
- Anything that sounds like a clinical question goes to a clinician.
Rules a safe setup keeps
| Rule | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| No diagnoses | A diagnosis needs a clinician, not a script |
| No dosage or treatment advice | Wrong advice can cause harm |
| Do not read out or collect national ID numbers and medical record numbers | Protects patient privacy |
| Refuse attempts to rewrite the assistant's rules | Stops a caller steering it into unsafe answers |
| Clinical wording signed off by clinical staff | The people responsible approve what is said |
Hand-over to the right desk
Hand-over routes are set by what the caller mentions: an emergency goes to emergency triage first in line, a nurse request to the nurse line, an appointment to the appointments desk and a billing question to the billing office. You name your own groups and keywords.
What to watch
- Calls answered in time, and the longest wait.
- Dropped calls.
- How many calls the assistant handled and how many went to staff.
- How many hand-overs were avoidable, because those are the calls to teach the assistant next.
A note on compliance
A starter configuration helps, but it does not make a hospital compliant with health-privacy rules. Your own privacy and clinical-safety teams still review the wording, the data handling and the records.
How the SSONE hospital pack starts you off
The hospital starter pack loads knowledge topics for appointments, emergencies and urgent symptoms, visiting hours and billing and insurance, for you to replace with your own. It ships guardrails against national ID numbers, medical record numbers, dosage or treatment advice, diagnoses and prompt injection. Callers can book, move and cancel appointments for visit types such as consultations, blood tests, vaccinations and imaging, and they show in your calendar. A Patient Access Health board shows answered in time, longest patient wait, dropped calls and staff hand-overs. The pack is configured around HIPAA and GDPR settings, which does not make an organisation compliant by itself.