Customer Stories
Every patient request, seen and actioned.
How a busy Ōtautahi practice replaced a slow voicemail backlog with a single dashboard — so the team can read each patient request and deal with it on the spot, and patients know they’ve been heard.
Ōtautahi is a busy practice in Christchurch that fields a high volume of patient contact every day — mostly the everyday questions and requests a specialist practice handles constantly. For a team at that volume, the bottleneck wasn’t answering the phone; it was what happened after: a growing pile of voicemails that could only be worked through in the gaps, while patients waited, unsure if anyone had heard them.
By the numbers
745
Patient interactions handled (531 calls + 214 chats)
45%
Of requests resolved by Heron directly — no staff time needed
96%
Intent identification accuracy
79%
Everyday general inquiries handled as readable requests
7 hrs
Call time handled by Heron (≈0.9 workdays)
86%
Call success rate
The challenge
For a high-volume specialist practice, the phone was only half the problem — voicemail was the other half. When the team couldn’t get to a call, patients left a voicemail, and those messages could only be checked and listened to during downtime: a slow, one-at-a-time process that never quite cleared. Patients who left a message had no way of knowing whether it had landed or when they’d hear back — so many simply rang again, adding to the pile.
The solution
With Heron, patient calls and requests arrive on a single dashboard as messages the team can read at a glance — and action on the spot, whether that’s a quick call back, a direct message, or completing the request outright. Instead of waiting for downtime to listen through voicemails one by one, the team scans a request in seconds and deals with it. Because patients can speak to Heron and be told their request will be actioned, they get reassurance a voicemail never gave them — which means fewer anxious call-backs and a calmer front desk. Heron resolves nearly half of all requests directly; anything that genuinely needs a person is passed to the team with the details already captured.
The results
The difference showed up on the dashboard and at the front desk.
745 patient interactions handled — 531 calls and 214 chats
45% of requests resolved by Heron directly — no staff time needed
96% intent identification accuracy — Heron knows what each patient is asking for
Patient requests turned into readable messages on one dashboard, actioned at a glance instead of via slow voicemail
Patients assured their request will be actioned — fewer repeat call-backs
~7 hours of call time handled (≈0.9 workdays), 86% call success rate
“Heron helps us manage high volumes of phone calls with easy call backs, direct messaging or completion of patient requests. It is much easier to quickly read a message on the Heron dashboard and attend to it rather than wait for downtime to check and listen to voicemails, which is a slow process.”
Emma-Lee · Practice Manager, Ōtautahi
“Patients also appreciate being able to speak to Heron and be assured their request will be actioned, rather than leaving a voicemail.”
EL
Emma-Lee
Practice Manager, Ōtautahi