30 September 2022
Update 30 September
During July and August Sciensus continued to experience very high levels of calls and email enquiries and we would like to thank our patients for their patience during this time. However, in the last few weeks we are seeing a return to anticipated call volumes leading to improved call answering and waiting times.
To help us whilst we continue to improve our inbound communications, please see the update below on how best to contact us:
Getting in touch online – Please use the “Contact Us” form on our website to arrange, confirm or reschedule your delivery, amend or cancel your order, plus many other request options. To access the form please click here
Getting in touch by phone – We continue to contact patients to confirm a scheduled delivery date, from two weeks before delivery (as per the standard service). For this reason, you don’t need to contact us in the normal course of events to confirm a delivery. Please use the form on our website to contact us, however, if you have a priority issue, please call 0333 1039 499 and select option 4.
Opening times – The condensed opening times have helped us to put more agents on the phones during peak times, therefore they continue to be Monday to Friday: 8am – 6pm
Saturday: 8am – 1pm.
Sciensus Intouch App – More patients are choosing to self-serve through our NHS approved App, which can now do more than ever. You can choose and book your delivery slot, check your prescription status, add and edit your supplies, track your deliveries and more. Simply search Sciensus in the App stores. If you already have our App, please upgrade it if you have not already done so, to make sure you have the latest version and access to all the features.
Our Live Chat service will be returning to the Sciensus Intouch App and we will shortly provide an update on when this will become available. Please note you can continue to contact us using the ‘contact us’ form on our website, via the phone and using the ‘Contact Us’ option in the App.
Virtual Patient Agent – We have now introduced a virtual patient agent on our website www.sciensus.com. The agent is a quick and easy way for patients to find answers to the most common questions, along with being able to check their scheduled dates for medication delivery and treatment. Our virtual patient agent will allow us to trial, test and learn over time, so where an answer is not found we will make sure that this is addressed and added in the future. We would also ask that you leave us your feedback after using the tool, so we can continue to improve.
Once again, we thank everyone for their patience as we work to improve our communication service levels and will continue to provide updates via our website.
Darryn Gibson
CEO
Update 13 July
Sciensus has recently experienced a very high level of calls and email enquiries from you. This increased volume has made it difficult to contact our teams and led to a poor contact experience. This has been exacerbated by the current job market, however we have a plan to address this issue.
Our aim is always to provide the highest quality and safest service. In recent weeks we have caused significant inconvenience for our patients when trying to contact us and for that reason I want to sincerely apologise and thank you for your patience.
Our teams are working extremely hard to speak to patients and respond to emails as quickly as possible. To improve our response times, we have been reviewing several options including the acceleration of planned improvements and the development of additional tools. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the changes we have made and future improvements.
Getting in touch online
You can now use the “Contact Us” form on our website to arrange, confirm or reschedule your delivery, amend or cancel your order, plus many other request options. We would ask that all online enquiries, including those you would normally email to our Patient Services team, are sent via the “Contact Us” form, this will be the fastest way to contact us online.
To access the form visit our Help and Support page.
We will also be turning our Live Chat service back on in the coming weeks with refreshed technology that provides a more effective level of service.
Getting in touch by phone
We are continuing to contact patients to confirm a scheduled delivery date, from two weeks before delivery (as per the standard service). For this reason, you don’t need to contact us in the normal course of events to confirm a delivery. Particularly in this period of high call volumes, please use the online form (as detailed above) to contact us. However, if you have a priority issue, please call and select option 4.
Opening times
In response to our elevated inbound calls during the most popular times, we have slightly condensed our opening times to allow more agents to respond to incoming calls:
Contact the Patient Services team by phone at: 0333 1039 499
Core opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 8am – 6pm
Saturday: 8am – 1pm
Sciensus Intouch App
The aim of the Intouch App is to provide everything you need to know about your condition and treatment, as well as giving you the choice and convenience of self service. However, we have been listening to feedback and understand this has not been the experience for all. We are now accelerating our development to bring even more features for you.
Currently 139,000 patients or 60% of total patients are eligible for our Sciensus InTouch App. If you are eligible, you will have received an email or text invite from us in the recent months. If you would like to register for the App, please fill out our Contact Us form here.
By the end of the year all patients will be able to take advantage of the app and its growing functionality.
| Available today | Coming soon |
| · Manage your medication orders and confirm deliveries
· Order ancillaries (e.g. sharps bins, wipes) · Choice of dates for delivery – more flexibility for delivery slots when you order via app · Real-time delivery tracking notifications · View medication details · View planned deliveries · Stock level checks
|
· Prescription status
· More flexibility on delivery dates · Amend order – date, ancillaries, address · Update personal information – e.g. address
|
Help us to help you
At this peak time, there are a few things I would kindly ask patients to consider when trying to contact us:
- Please use the online Contact Us form in the first instance to get in touch
- If your delivery is not due in the next two weeks, please use the online Contact Us form to send in your enquiry. If you have an urgent enquiry, please continue to call and press 4 for the priority line.
- If eligible, download the App to order and track your medicine deliveries, straight from your smartphone or tablet.
- Continue to be understanding with our agents as they endeavour to respond to all the queries.
We know that you depend on us and we deeply regret the issues patients have faced when trying to contact us. We take the situation very seriously and are working at speed to improve our inbound communications. We will continue to keep everyone updated via our website.
Thank you,
Darryn Gibson
CEO