A daughter rings on behalf of her father. He has the television at a volume that fills the street, he has stopped going to the pub because he cannot follow conversation, and he insists there is nothing wrong.
She is the one enquiring. He is the one who has to walk through the door. Everything about how this is handled decides whether he does.
The checklist
Work through these and third party enquiries convert into attended appointments.
1. Establish who is enquiring
Spouse, adult child, carer or friend, and what their relationship to the person is. It changes what they can arrange and what they can be told.
2. Publish your consent position
What a third party can book, what information can be shared with them and what requires the person themselves. Families want to do the right thing and need to be told what that is.
3. Capture what has been noticed
Television volume, repeated requests, withdrawal from groups, difficulty on the telephone, and how long it has been going on. Specific observations are useful to a clinician in a way that a general concern is not.
4. Ask whether the person knows
An enquiry made without the person's knowledge needs different handling from one made at their request. Getting this wrong damages the relationship the clinic depends on.
5. Ask what the resistance is
Cost, vanity, a belief that nothing can be done, a bad experience elsewhere or simple denial. Each has a different answer and most clinic pages address none of them.
6. Give the family something to hand over
A plainly written page addressed to the person rather than the relative, explaining what a test involves, that it is painless and that nothing is being sold at the appointment.
7. Explain what a first appointment involves
Duration, what happens, whether results are immediate and whether a decision is required on the day. The last point is what most people are actually worried about.
8. Publish the no obligation position
If a test can be had without any pressure to buy, say it in exactly those words. It is the sentence that moves resistant people.
9. Offer a joint appointment
Many people will attend if somebody comes with them, and saying that a relative is welcome removes a barrier that is never stated aloud.
10. Address mobility and home visits
Whether you visit at home, what that costs and whether it is available for people who cannot travel. For older patients this decides everything.
11. Handle related concerns properly
Wax, discomfort and sudden changes need a clinician rather than a booking form, which is the ground in wax removal enquiries and when they need a clinician.
12. Respond while the relative is motivated
Families enquire in the evening after a difficult visit, and a reply on Tuesday finds them resigned again, which is the pattern in hearing test booking questions from worried families.
13. Third party enquiries appear across services
Somebody enquiring for another person is the same handling problem as in multilingual families and school enquiries, and the always-answerable economics are in an AI receptionist for beauty salons.
Getting started
Publish your consent position, a page addressed to the patient and the no obligation terms, then capture family enquiries at any hour. SpideyChat for clinics answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.