Course length

Half day

Why come on this course?

This 3 hour workshop will give you an opportunity to look at new ways of handling the situations you find most difficult.  It will also encourage you to take a fresh look at your approach to calls and fine-tune your skills.

Who is it for?

This course is designed for anyone who works in a GP surgery and handles patient calls. The recommended maximum is 14 delegates.

Prerequisites

What will I learn?

By the end of this workshop you will have been introduced to techniques which will enable you to:

• Deal with all calls effectively and professionally, even in challenging circumstances
• Create empathy with patients on the telephone
• Identify a range of approaches to calls and how to adapt to a range of situations
• Understand your own emotional responses to calls and how to avoid becoming “hooked” in an inappropriate response
• Review how well the systems you use for recording information from calls work and generate ideas of how to make them even better
• Devise a personal action plan

This workshop combines trainer input with practical exercises, personal reflection and group discussion. All participants will work on a personal action plan throughout the course.

Course contents

The patients’ point of view

• What do our patients expect from calls?
• What currently works and why?
• Where could our service be better?

 Communicating positively

• Positive telephone tone of voice
• Agreeing a team approach to handling calls

 Dealing with challenging calls

• Understanding the patients’ viewpoint
• Showing the patient that you are listening to them
• Making them feel valued
• Saying ‘no’ positively
• Handling difficult situations assertively

 Handling your own emotion

• Transactional Analysis – our natural responses
• Emotional “hooks” and how to recognise them
• Maintaining a professional response     

 Action Planning