Patients picking up the phone for eye care enquiries

Patients are more likely to call eye health professionals than they were five years ago, according to a report by communications provider Moneypenny.

The company surveyed opticians and eye clinics as well as other healthcare businesses to reveal they now receive 32% more calls.

Of those surveyed, 45% said most callers want the reassurance of talking to a person, closely followed by 40% who said that most patients are calling to seek urgent responses to their enquiries.

Stephanie Vaughan-Jones, healthcare channel manager at Moneypenny, said: ‘The data shows that even in an online world, we still seek the reassurance of human interaction and this is particularly important for optical patients.