How Necker Hospital relieved congestion thanks to a callbot handling 53% of calls

Background, need 📍

The Necker-Enfants Malades hospital, a leading medical institution, was facing a major problem: a massive influx of calls, resulting in a high rate of unanswered calls. The hospital's switchboard was saturated, with hundreds of calls a day from patients and their families seeking practical information or to be redirected to the appropriate services. This overload not only impacted on service quality, but also weighed heavily on the teams in charge of the switchboard.

Faced with these challenges, it became crucial to find a technological solution capable of decongesting the flow of incoming calls and improving the user experience, while optimizing the hospital's human resources. The aim: to reduce the rate of unanswered calls and ensure a smooth, rapid telephone answering service.

The implemented approach, solution 🛠

To meet this pressing need, Necker Hospital turned to ILLUIN Technology with its innovative ILLUIN Dialogue solution. A callbot was integrated into the hospital's switchboard, with the task of automating the management of incoming calls by answering frequently asked questions from patients and their relatives, while redirecting calls to the relevant departments if necessary.

Implementing a callbot in a hospital environment is a particularly suitable solution, as it ensures 24/7 availability and provides fast, accurate answers to the most frequently asked questions. This approach also improves the efficiency of the reception service, considerably reducing staff workloads, while maintaining optimum service quality.

Main activities performed ✅

Implementing the ILLUIN Dialogue callbot at Necker involved several key phases:

Call flow analysis The first step was to carry out an in-depth analysis of the different types of calls received by the hospital, in order to identify the most frequent requests that could be handled automatically.
Natural language processing (NLP) model training : Based on advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and in particular natural language processing (NLP) models, the callbot was trained to understand and accurately process caller queries. Training was based on datasets specific to recurring questions from patients and families.
Integration into the existing telephone system Callbot: The callbot was directly integrated into the hospital's call management system, enabling it to handle calls as soon as they arrive and process them instantly.
Testing period Several days of experimentation were used to validate the tool's effectiveness, before rolling it out on a larger scale.

The results, the benefits obtained ✨

The results obtained with the callbot at the Necker Hospital are impressive and bear witness to the success of this technological approach:

📞 53% of calls handled by selfcare : More than half of all calls are now handled directly by the callbot, without human intervention. This means patients get precise answers to their questions without having to wait.

✅ 90% correct understanding rate The callbot's success rate in understanding requests reached 90%, demonstrating the reliability and effectiveness of the NLP model implemented.

⌛️ 0 waiting time Unlike a conventional switchboard, the callbot takes calls immediately, eliminating waiting time for callers.

⌚️ Talk time reduced to 40 seconds On average, conversations with the callbot last 40 seconds, which saves users a considerable amount of time.

📈 194,000 calls handled since January 2024 : With an average volume of 1,000 to 1,500 calls per day, the hospital has been able to handle a substantial number of calls since the beginning of the year.

💁 Reduction of -2 FTEs : The deployment of the callbot has relieved the staff in charge of the switchboard, resulting in a reduction of the equivalent of two full-time positions (FTEs) needed to handle calls.

Conclusion

The introduction of the ILLUIN Dialogue callbot at Necker Hospital has solved a critical problem: the saturation of the switchboard. By automating more than half of all calls and eliminating waiting times, this solution has not only improved the patient experience, but also enabled the hospital to optimize the use of its human resources.

In the future, this approach could serve as a model for other healthcare establishments seeking to leverage artificial intelligence to optimize the management of their services, while maintaining a high quality of care and patient relations.

As a result, conversational AI, and in particular solutions such as ILLUIN Dialogue, are emerging as an essential lever for improving operational efficiency in sectors with high demand for interaction management, notably the medical field.