Findoc becomes UK’s largest online healthcare booking platform
Xavier Bernal
Findoc.co.uk has become the UK’s largest healthcare booking platform with a community of 5,500 healthcare professionals across 50 specialist areas and 520 healthcare establishments, including hospitals, clinics and centres.
Following funding in 2017, more than 40 000 online bookings have already been made via Findoc.co.uk, doubling every month since January 2018. It currently hosts 3,100 patient reviews, a number that is growing all the time.
Feedback from customers using the service includes the following benefits:
- 60% of appointments made out of office hours
- 15% reduction in telephone call volumes
- Reduction of no-shows and empty calendar slots
Xavier Bernal, founder of Findoc said: “The rise of social media and review sites means that healthcare professionals cannot afford to overlook the internet as a means of engaging with established and new patients. A unified system that makes the process of finding a provider, booking and managing appointments simple for both patients and practitioners is a helpful entry point for patients and healthcare professionals to connect with each other.”
The company undertook market research in 2017, questioning 500 patients and healthcare professionals in London, resulting in the following findings.
Healthcare professionals
Independent practitioners are still managing around 80% of their appointments, with the average call to book, cancel or modify an appointment lasting 2.5 minutes.
Only 10% of private doctors have an online booking system. For hotels this number is closer to 25%.
Bernal continued: “Booking via the web has become the norm for restaurants, flights and hotels, which have user friendly systems such as “Booking.com”. However, very few people in the UK have the option to book their healthcare online.”
The benefits of an efficient, 24/7, online system, supported with a service to “on board” both practice employees and patients, have been demonstrated through uptake by Medicare Francais and the French Dental Practice.
Medicare Francais
- 15% reduction in telephone call volumes (confirming appointment details, appointments time or date of the appointment, transportation options, address, opening times, etc.)
- 60% of online bookings are being made outside office hours
- Last-minute filling of empty time slots: 41% of appointments booked online were at last minute
- Verified reviews from real patients strengthen reputation. Average of 4.7% out of 5
Bernal said: “Really convenient for patients, they can book anytime from their mobile phone when and where it suits them.”
The French Dental Practice
- findoc.co.uk enhances online visibility
- 30% of appointments booked online were within 24 hours – filling calendar slots caused by cancellations and shifting schedules
- Reduction in email bookings which require admin
Bernal continued: “Patients appreciate the convenience of booking, cancelling or rescheduling online with a simple process, 24/7.”
Patients use Findoc to find their nearest healthcare professionals such as GPs, physiotherapists and dentists.
They can read patient reviews and book an appointment directly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in a completely secure and private environment. Findoc’s search and booking platform also helps healthcare professionals to be more visible in searches by potential new patients and to improve their patient retention.
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