Nesma’ak (We Listen to you) customer service of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has become the primary communication channel for patients with its call center receiving around 5,600 calls daily, stressed Nasser al-Nuaimi, CEO of Patient Experience and Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute.

He told local Arabic daily 'Arrayah' that besides having Nesma’ak service staff present at healthcare facilities, HMC provides a 24/7 call centre to respond to patient inquiries, assist with appointment management, and receive feedback, complaints, and comments. It has received over 785,000 calls between January and June this year.

Nesma’ak customer service acts as the point of triage, in addition to processing, tracking, coordinating the process of dealing with the issue, and handle all feedback received from customers. Part of Nesma’ak responsibilities is to analyse any complaint data, and feedback.

It focuses on patient satisfaction and hence highlights the potential demands and main challenges to the senior management to help enhance therapeutic services.

He said: "Our staff proactively engages with patients and conduct satisfaction surveys related to the services provided within HMC. The service staff is present at all HMC facilities through more than 65 help desks, assisting, guiding, and responding to inquiries from patients and visitors from 6am to 10pm, and 24/7 at the Emergency Department of Hamad General Hospital."

Al-Nuaimi stressed:" We aim to provide the best available customer care 24/7 for all patients and visitors by integrating automation and modern technology to keep the service at the forefront of the customer service industry. Currently, the 16060 Nesma’ak customer helpline is available 24/7 as part of HMC’s commitment to make continuous improvement of the services provided to the patients and the society."

He further noted that Nesma’ak offers access to services such as appointment confirmation, rescheduling, or cancellation, providing feedback, inquiries related to the My Health patient portal, and general inquiries about HMC services. The customer service team has also enhanced its support by offering multiple language options for patients, which include Arabic, English, Urdu, and Malayalam. He explained that as part of the new technologies, an automated appointment reminder services and post-service surveys were launched.

Regarding the development of the Nesma’ak customer service over the past years, al-Nuaimi said that the HMC help desk was established in 2006, and after transforming it into "Nesma’ak" in 2016, patient engagement increased by 500%.

He pointed out that with the opening of new facilities at HMC and the introduction of more services to the public, the Nesma’ak customer service call center has improved its ability to adapt and serve a larger number of patients and visitors, explaining that HMC is currently working on integrating all facilities under the 16060 call centre.