If you call our clinic before 8.30am or after 5 pm Monday to Friday,and before 8.30am or after 1 pm on Saturday, and anytime on Sunday,  you will be calling outside of our business hours and our phone systems automatically change to an after hours mode. 

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The DOCTORS Hope Island has utilised an AI (Artificial Intelligence) resource who is called 'LUCY', the AI Assistant.  We have done this because it is state-of-the-art and we wish to adopt the latest technologies in any aspect of our operations where it improves the service for our patients. 

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It is important to remember, that the usual system would be an automated announcement stating that our clinic is closed, as procedure, we would not take messages due to the risk of them not being left clearly, attended to as quickly as the caller may believe and other reasons. So when our clinic was offered this service we felt there are many benefits in comparison to an answering announcement. Lucy can provide basic information if you ask and she can also do this in another language which at the moment is Korean, as Koreans form the largest non english speaking nationality of patient, as we have a korean speaking doctor, and although not impossible, they can find expressing detailed matters difficult at times. We also have Russian speakers and Persian speakers, and if we have the impression one of these groups requires assistance on the phone more, we can easily have Lucy adjust to that language.

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If a caller wants to know any of our contact details, trading hours, and general information Lucy will usually be able to answer this and satisfy the desired information from the caller. The other resource of Lucy is that although she doesn't make or change appointments as this requires a receptionist with knowledge of medical centre operations, Lucy will take a message and obtain the relevant details such as date of birth, which doctor you see and your message. This is then summarised accurately and emailed to the Receptionists so as soon as the clinic reopens for business the email will be there and our staff will follow up and make contact with patients or have the information such as they have got a flat tyre and can't make their appointment. Our staff find the messages detailed, to contain all the relevant information and to be sent without any hinderance. So we find it much more reliable that normal voicemail etc.

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We have had some people contact us and think that AI is not a personal option, or lucy didn't respond when they asked a question. Lucy is not perfect, and Yes, Lucy will pick up noise in the background or the like and may not answer promptly or hesitate whilst determining the noise, but all one has to do is speak a little louder and ask the question again or leave your message. Lucy is a helpful and novel modern resource that we offer to you and if you need to know our postal address or if we are open on Saturday etc for example, it is highly likely that Lucy will be able to give the information when you usually would hear an anouncement and it hang up.

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We are not trying to replace our receptionists with an alternative or compromising the high standards of reception services that we provide, but one must remember, if you are speaking with Lucy, you are calling the Clinic when it is closed. 

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So we hope you explore Lucy if you get a chance and enjoy the novelty of our AI assistant when the clinic is closed and embrace her excellent ability to take messages and have them to the reception team swiftly. If Lucy is not your cup of tea, just hang up as we do not want to force anyone.

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Thank you! 

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