Initiative to increase customer service efficiency and lower waiting times

Multilingual platform that integrates voice, text and e-mail

Patients can call 03-7677444 to access Tawam's services

Al Ain, UAE, May 7, 2013: Tawam Hospital announced today that it had implemented a state-of-the-art interactive voice response system that integrates voice, text, and e-mail communications in a bilingual platform. Languages supported by this new, 24/7 system, include Arabic and English.

Patients and visitors who phone the hospital will experience increased customer service efficiency that the new system provides in terms of reduced 'on hold' waiting times, as well as faster processing and scheduling of appointments, medical tests, and other hospital services.

The Interactive Voice Response System connects patients and visitors not only to their appointments and other inquiries but also to clinical departments, the pharmacy, patient affairs, health insurance, and human resources. As part of the enhanced security feature of Tawam's Interactive Voice Response System, patients can arrange their appointment and other inquiries by calling 03-7677444 from their registered mobile number at Tawam Hospital and by providing their Medical Record Number. This ensures privacy and confidentiality to patients and visitors as well as helps to prevent theft of personal information.

Maisaloon Al-Tammam, Senior Call Centre Officer at Tawam Hospital said: "We became aware of patient and visitor requests to increase the efficiency of our telephone services through our customer satisfaction and Mas'ool initiatives. We have responded to one of their key requests and that is to decrease phone call 'on hold' wait times. We are pleased to offer this state-of-the-art system and hope that our patients and visitors will find increasing benefits from the services it offers."

Tawam Hospital is part of the SEHA Health System and is owned and operated by SEHA, which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

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About Tawam Hospital
Tawam Hospital, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a premier 461-bed tertiary care facility located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi; one of the largest hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. With over 22,000 admissions in 2012 and an average 73 percent occupancy rate, Tawam offers services in specialties including oncology, neonatal care, emergency medicine, intensive care, surgery, urology, family medicine, fertility services, neurosurgery, nephrology,  pediatrics , pain management, internal medicine and obstetrics & gynecology.

Tawam serves as a regional referral center for specialized medical care and is a national referral center for oncology services. Tawam Hospital received program accreditation in 2012 from the American College of Graduate Medical Education - International, and is a recognized intern, resident, and fellowship training site for the Arab Medical Board. Tawam Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission International Accreditation, last renewed in 2012, and its laboratory services are accredited by the College of American Pathology.

With an average of 330 daily inpatients, Tawam Hospital is the preferred destination for quality medical care in the UAE. In 2012, the ER unit received over 116,000 patients, and hospital clinic visits exceeded 489,000. Tawam's team of renowned surgeons performed over 7,700 surgeries during the year, while the dental clinic served over 84,000 patients. During the year, Tawam adopted a single room model in its medical and surgical wards, upgraded the pediatric extended care unit to 10 beds, expanded and relocated its In-vitro Fertilization Unit, remodeled a surgical unit, expanded our Endoscopy Unit, added 19 private rooms to our oncology program, and provided additional special needs parking spaces to serve our clients better. Innovations in clinical care were adopted to treat patients using an evidence-based approach during life-threatening situations to include formation of the ICU Outreach Team and implementation of a Pediatric Early Warning Score process and Rapid Response Team.

More than 4,100 babies were born at Tawam Hospital in 2012. In the same year, the hospital performed over 18,300 CT/MRI procedures, 110,000 radiology exams, 120,000 physiotherapy/ occupational therapy procedures and more than 3,400,000 laboratory tests. The average length of stay at Tawam Hospital in 2012 was 5.45 days.

Tawam Hospital actively recruits and engages a national workforce. On average, the Emiratization rate at Tawam is 30 percent. Tawam Hospital is part of the SEHA Health System, owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

About Johns Hopkins Medicine International
Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) facilitates the global development of the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission: to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care.

As the international access point to thousands of Johns Hopkins experts in medicine, nursing, public health and health care administration, JHI coordinates treatment for out-of-town patients who travel to Baltimore and for local patients with limited English proficiency. It also provides services in hospital management, health care consulting and clinical education through strategic alliances and affiliations in the Middle East, Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia.

About the SEHA Health System and the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA)
SEHA is health in Arabic.  The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC- whose marketing identity is SEHA - is an independent, public joint stock company created to develop the curative activities of the public healthcare system in Abu Dhabi. The company owns and operates all the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which together make up the SEHA Health System.  SEHA is committed to continuous improvement of customer care to recognized international standards and providing our customers and communities served world-class healthcare.  SEHA has partnered with internationally recognized hospital managers to achieve these goals.  These include Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Fresenius Medical Care.  SEHA owns and operates 12 hospitals with 2,644 beds, more than 60 ambulatory care, family care and urgent care centers and 2 blood banks.  SEHA is one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in the Middle East with more than 17,000 doctors, nurses, ancillary care and administrative personnel in its employ.  Visit our website at www.seha.ae

For media enquiries, please contact:
Sumaya Al Harrasi
Marketing & Business Communications Manager
Tawam Hospital
Tel.: +971 3 7074646
Mobile: +971 553051305
Fax: +971 3 7074818
Email: sharrasi@tawamhospital.ae

Amal Hamad Al Darmaki
Public Relations Officer
Tawam Hospital
Tel.: +971 3 7074646
Fax: +971 3 7074818
Mobile: +971 058329733
Email: Amaldarmaki@tawamhospital.ae

© Press Release 2013