What is a missed call worth to your clinic?
Every missed first-time call is a patient who may book somewhere else. Most clinics know roughly how many calls they miss. Very few know what those calls are worth.
Reception is busy. Calls get missed at lunchtime, after 4pm and on Saturdays, when one person is checking a patient in and another is on the other line. Existing patients usually ring back. New patients often don't: they try the next clinic on the search results.
Missed-call value calculator
The defaults are an example. Change them to match your clinic. Nothing you type is stored or sent.
An estimate from your inputs. Your phone system knows the missed calls; your diary knows who booked. Joined, they give the real figure.
When are the calls being missed?
The total matters less than the pattern. If most missed new-patient calls happen between 12:30 and 2pm, the fix is a rota change, not a new receptionist. If they cluster on Saturday mornings, it may be worth a call-answering service for those hours only. A call-tracking system (CallRail, Mediahawk, ResponseTap) or your phone provider's report can show missed calls by hour and day.
Three cheap fixes clinics use
- Call back within the hour. A daily list of missed numbers that haven't booked, worked through before lunch and before close.
- Cover the peaks. Stagger breaks so the phone is never unattended at lunchtime.
- Offer online booking on the voicemail and website. Some callers would rather book themselves.
How to get the real number
Take last month's call log and mark first-time callers. Match the missed ones against new patients created in your clinic software over the next week. The ones who never appear are your lost patients. It's a fiddly join by hand, and it's one of the gaps our free data check looks for when you give it your call and diary exports.
See what missed calls cost you
Drop last month's call log and diary export into the free check. It runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and it shows your top three gaps in pounds.