Whenever you ring a doctor's surgery and there is an automatic announcement saying if this is an emergency hang up now and call 000
How many people would find their GP number and call that instead of 000
Based on the number of phone calls a practice gets i suggests many.
I was having dinner with some friends, some working in medical practices (including specialists) and we were actually talking about this. And they mentioned exactly what
@Quickstatus says: a surprising number of people are experiencing what is actually an emergency and that they should call 000.
Maybe some schlubs out there think that 000 is too tied up (or ambulances similarly), so they think mentioning an emergency will get them priority attention at their local doctor.
Ironically, we also have a problem where people call 000 for matters which are
not emergencies, from merely having a cold to truly selfish, ridiculous reasons to raise an alarm, including demanding a pizza to be ordered and delivered.
I hate "please listen carefully as our options have recently changed". Like I go around memorising options for countless companies. Has anyone ever listened carefully and noticed the change?
I don't, but some who have gotten used to phone trees calling the same company may need to be reminded to stop and listen if the options truly do change. I'm sure there's been instances where someone has called, think they're smart pressing ahead, then are puzzled when they get the wrong department or an error.
The problem with this is no one really judges as to when is enough time after changing the IVR system, so the warning that options have changed remains there forever.
