Clinic answering service
The medical phone answering service that books the appointment
A traditional healthcare answering service takes a message and leaves you to ring the patient back. CAi, HeyCAi’s AI receptionist, answers your clinic’s calls 24/7 and books straight into your diary. Below, what each one does well and where it falls short.
The same call
One call, two ways of answering it
A new patient rings while you’re treating someone. This is how the call usually goes with a message-taking service, and how it goes with CAi.
A traditional answering service
- A receptionist at the service answers in your clinic’s name.
- They take the caller’s name, number and reason for calling.
- The message reaches you by email or text.
- You ring the patient back when you’re free.
- If they don’t pick up, you try again. Some will already have booked elsewhere.
Outcome: a message to deal with
CAi
- CAi answers straight away, in your clinic’s name, at any hour.
- It works out what the caller needs and checks your live diary.
- It books the appointment while the patient is still on the line.
- The patient gets the confirmation on WhatsApp.
- You get a summary and a transcript. There’s nobody to ring back.
Outcome: an appointment in the diary
When a person is needed
Where CAi’s job ends
An AI receptionist should know its limits. CAi stops at anything clinical and anything it doesn’t know.
If something falls outside what it knows, it puts the call through to you or an on-call number, or takes a message and alerts your team on WhatsApp. You choose.
What CAi does not do
- It gives no clinical advice and makes no diagnosis.
- It is not an emergency line, and it doesn’t assess urgency: that’s for your team to decide.
- It never makes up an answer: it would rather say it doesn’t have that information and pass the message on.
Side by side
What each one does well
Answering services vary a lot, so check what yours includes. This is the usual picture for a clinic.
| Point | Traditional answering service | CAi |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | A trained person, on every call. | An AI receptionist. It passes the call to a person when one is needed. |
| Booking | Usually a message for you to act on. Some services can book if you give them access to your diary. | Books directly into PracticeHub and QuiroHiro, and into other diaries such as Cliniko, Jane App or Google Calendar. |
| Hours | Whatever the plan you buy covers: out of hours, overflow or round the clock. | Every hour of every day, bank holidays included. |
| Several calls at once | Depends on how many people are on shift. | Answers them all at the same time. |
| Difficult or emotional calls | A person can listen and reassure. | It stays calm and polite, but it can’t reassure someone the way a person can. |
| WhatsApp and reminders | Not usually part of the service. | The same assistant answers WhatsApp and sends appointment reminders. |
| Languages | Depends on the service. | Answers in Spanish and English. |
An answering service makes sense if
you want a person on every single call, and you have someone free to ring patients back.
CAi makes sense if
most of your calls are bookings, changes and questions, and you’d rather they ended with an appointment than a message.
Keep reading
More about how CAi answers
After-hours calls
What CAi does with the evening, weekend and lunchtime calls, and a calculator for what missed calls cost you.
Appointment reminders
WhatsApp reminders that patients answer, rescheduling by reply and a waiting list that fills cancelled slots.
Compare AI receptionists
A receptionist, an answering service, voicemail and AI receptionists for UK clinics, side by side.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Still weighing it up? The comparison of UK options covers receptionists and voicemail too.
Best AI receptionist for UK clinics Is CAi a person or an AI?
CAi is an AI receptionist, not a person. It speaks naturally and answers in your clinic’s name: 88% of patients didn’t notice they were talking to an AI. When a call needs a person, it hands it over.
Can CAi replace my answering service?
For booking, moving and cancelling appointments and for questions about your clinic, yes, and it does it at any hour. If you need a person to speak to every caller, a human answering service still makes sense.
Does CAi give medical advice?
No. CAi gives no clinical advice and makes no diagnosis. Clinical questions go to you or your team.
Can I keep my clinic’s phone number?
Yes. Keep your number: calls go to CAi when you can’t answer, out of hours or always. You choose.
How much does it cost?
We’ll tell you on the video call: it depends on your clinic. You start with a 30-day free trial. No lock-in: cancel whenever you like from your dashboard.
Is patient data safe?
We comply with the GDPR and Spain’s data protection law (LOPDGDD). HeyCAi is the data processor; your clinic is the data controller. The details are on our security page.
Live demo
Hear how CAi would answer your clinic
Give us your clinic’s website and your mobile. CAi reads the site and rings you, so you can judge it against your answering service on a real call.
- Type your clinic's website and your mobile.
- CAi reads your website and gets ready as your reception.
- It calls you: answer as if you were a patient.
- The demo is free: no card, no sign-up, no commitment.
- Your phone rings in about 30 seconds.
After the demo
Book a video call with Josep