Ōtautahi Orthopaedics 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.

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

Full case study

Download the complete Ōtautahi Orthopaedics story as a PDF to share with your team.

Download PDF

“Patients also appreciate being able to speak to Heron and be assured their request will be actioned, rather than leaving a voicemail.”

— Emma-Lee, Practice Manager, Ōtautahi Orthopaedics