About the client
The Centre d’Échographie Médicale de L’Étang Salé (CEMES) offers medical ultrasound services on the island of Réunion.
Its clientele is local and targets both adults and children.
Project requirements and challenges
Building on its success on the island, the medical practice received a significant number of requests for appointments.
Without a website, the secretariat had to deal with a large number of emails and phone calls every day, and manually enter appointments into outdated software that was not connected to the internet.
It was becoming urgent to take action to optimise appointment scheduling, as the workload was becoming unmanageable.
The medical centre initially turned to online appointment booking solutions such as Doctolib, but it soon became apparent that this solution had a number of drawbacks:
- limitations of the software for customising the types of examinations offered
- partial recovery of patient information
- impossible to present the services in detail as the firm desired
- Contact outside of appointments limited to displaying the firm's contact details.
- high monthly cost of using the software
The medical centre therefore decided to create its own website in order to easily manage appointments and communication with its patients.
Results
The creation of the CEMES medical practice website has brought about numerous changes and has significantly increased the number of appointments while optimising staff working time.
Better communication with patients
Since its launch, the website has greatly reduced the workload of the secretariat and made it easier for patients and future patients to access information.
A dedicated area allows patients to view and manage their upcoming appointments independently.
An easily editable FAQ section has been added to enable visitors to find answers to their questions rather than systematically sending emails or calling the firm.
Online management of medical appointments
The online appointment booking platform has completely replaced the old solution. The secretariat is informed in real time of appointment requests and immediately receives the medical prescription when the appointment is made, saving valuable time.
Patients also receive an email/text message reminder shortly before their examination, which has reduced the number of patients who fail to attend their appointments.
Holidays are also configured, and specific slots dedicated to certain medical examinations have been set up.
The firm reserves the right to schedule appointments outside of “normal” hours for emergencies or exceptional circumstances.
Patients also have access to a private area where they can log in to view their past and future appointments and, if necessary, reschedule or cancel them.
The firm’s staff received training on how to manage the various aspects of the new software, as well as a series of short video tutorials filmed for them.