Call centre helps clear IT backlog at Royal Berkshire Hospital

Date: 09/08/2011

Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital is making use of its call centre to deal with a backlog of patent enquiries caused by a series of computer problems.

According to the Reading Chronicle, the hospital has extended the opening hours of its contact centre - which uses 0845 telephone numbers - after a glitch left patients unable to book appointments online and meant some staff were unable to access information.

Spokeswoman Vicki Sperrey said in an interview with the Midweek edition of the newspaper that the hospital will be investigating the computer faults and apologised for the disruption caused.

"We would like to thank patients for bearing with us," she remarked.

The call centre is open an hour earlier than normal until the end of this week (August 12th) to help deal with the expected backlog of calls, meaning patients can now get in touch between 07:45 and 17:15 BST.

Staff at the facility may wish to make handling calls quickly a priority, as recent research by Maintel revealed this is top of the agenda for people who make a query over the phone.