Phonebar V9.0.2

A gradual rollout for this version will run from the 21st September to the 5th October 2026

You will be notified via the Phonebar when the update is available for your site

🚀 What's New

Coming Soon: Outbound Voice Agent - Appointment Management

We're getting ready to begin piloting for our Outbound Voice Agent. The starting workflow feature focusses around appointment management for practices, providing an alternative route for patient communication without relying on SMS messages or manual telephone contact

Recover clinical capacity, reduce avoidable messaging costs, and relieve pressure on reception teams with staff-triggered, on-demand automated appointment reminder calls. The Outbound Voice Agent proactively contacts patients to remind them of upcoming appointments, verify their identities, and process instant cancellations, reducing DNA rates and administrative workload while ensuring equitable access for both landline and mobile users

Feature Benefits

Reduce Missed Appointments: Direct, voice-based reminders make it harder to overlook appointments compared to easily missed text messages. Giving patients an immediate option to cancel during the call also frees up unused slots
Operational Time Savings: Once launched by practice staff, routine outbound calls are automated, relieving reception staff from manual dialling so they can focus on complex patient care and primary duties
Lower Communication Costs: Reduce reliance on SMS reminders and the associated messaging expense
Wider Reach: Using a Voice Agent reaches those with a landline as well as those with smartphones meaning a more equitable access route

This feature is currently in pilot. To register your interest for this feature, please fill in our Contact Form

Coming Soon: eConsult Integrated Voice Agent

The eConsult Integrated Voice Agent integrates into existing practice workflows, automating the capture of request information directly from your patients and passing it to existing triage processes. It captures hands-free documentation, and offers a round the clock voice activated channel, maximising practice efficiency and creating equity of access by not leaving offline patients behind

How it works:

Patient Call: Patients communicate their requests naturally over the phone using the Voice Agent, which is placed in the desired position in a practice call flow
Structured Capture: The Voice Agent processes, structures, and coverts the verbal into a standardised request form
Unified Delivery: The structured request is delivered directly into the practice's primary eConsult triage workflow alongside their standard web submissions
Full Visibility: Practice staff can access the complete call transcript and audio recording within the Phonebar Forms Window, if required

Feature Benefits:

Combats the Digital Divide: Extends the benefits of eConsult to offline, elderly, or digitally excluded patients who prefer or need to use the phone
Zero Queue Friction: Patients choosing the Voice Agent route bypass traditional reception hold queues entirely
Unified Staff Triage: No split workflows - phone-based requests and web forms land in the same eConsult triage queue for staff review
Reduced Administrative Burden: Shifting routine call handling to the Voice Agent reduces inbound phone traffic and manual admin for reception teams

This feature is currently in pilot. To register your interest for this feature, please fill in our Contact Form

Coming Soon: Customisable Forms for Omni Consultation Customers

We're also beginning to pilot the ability to customise the questions within the Omni Consultation Forms feature. Introducing the ability to add, remove and edit the questions offered by the Voice Agent and Web Forms means that the information provided by patients submitting requests is more relevant to your practice needs, helping your staff to triage as effectively as possible

Benefits:

Greater Flexibility: The structure and wording of your Form questions can be customised, making them more specific for your practice needs
Real-time Previews: Preview your customised questions via a voice call or a web browser tab to ensure accuracy before saving changes

The ability to create custom Omni Consultation Forms is currently in pilot. To register your interest for Omni Consultation Forms, please use our contact form

For more information, see our collection of Omni Consultation Forms Help guides here

Phonebar Notifications

We have introduced notifications to the Phonebar, in order to improve the communications we provide for Phonebar Users. These notifications will be controlled by Surgery Connect to provide our Users with relevant information regarding Phonebar upgrades, system outage and end of life products

Clicking the Notification popup will open the About section of the Phonebar Settings Window, where you can access more information

For more information, see our Phonebar Settings and Preferences Guide here

🛠️ Minor Fixes

Stability improvements and minor fixes
General UI improvements

Have you visited the Surgery Connect Academy? Our Mastering the Phonebar courses for EMIS Web and SystmOne Users covers everything you need to build the skills, knowledge and confidence of Phonebar users within your practice