Testimonials from our trainees
We've been delivering high quality telephone training for healthcare professionals for more than a decade.
You can read some of the feedback we've had from course delegates including GPs, practice managers, nurses and receptionists, as well as CCGs and private organisations. If you're ready to book your telephone training, or would like more information about the services we provide, get in touch.
Just wanted to get in touch again to let you know how much we enjoyed the telephone triage training. I’ve since spoken with some of the other delegates and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed it and gained so much relevant and usable information from it.
The training was well structured, well balanced and delivered in such an informative yet interactive way the entire day held our complete attention and was actually really enjoyable.
You really are an expert in your field and it is great that you choose to share this with others.
Carla Drake, Nurse Practitioner
PDS Medical Ltd and FCMS (NW) Ltd
I attended the telephone consultation training. What an absolutely excellent training session.
This was a very high impact session, which will undoubtedly change the way I practice medicine.
Following this session I have doubled the number of telephone consultations I am doing.
Dr Barry Sullman,
Balaam Street Surgery, Newham
Sally-Anne Pygall runs a company which fills a vital need, that of providing training in a difficult area of clinical practice, namely consulting with patients over the telephone.
Following on from her extensive knowledge and personal experience of telephone consulting, she recognised that on the whole there was no structured or formative training in this skill. I was impressed by her business like and professional manner with a mixed ability course which I attended.
She is an excellent communicator with an obvious passion about doing telephone medicine safely and appropriately. Her exceptionally detailed knowledge, not only of the sector, but the pitfalls in practice and the medico-legal ramifications of getting it wrong, ensure that even the most experienced clinicians should leave her courses with better skills and a safer outlook.
Her company is an excellent idea and it is clear that her skills training package needs rolling out across the healthcare sector.
Sally provides structure, hope and certainty in what is otherwise a very difficult sector with little formal training or recognition. I am very impressed by her skills both on a micro and an organisational level.
Dr Elaine Tickle MRCGP MA, Private General Practitioner
22 Upper Wimpole Street, London
I recently went on the RCGP telephone consultation skills course run by Ms Sally-Anne Pygall. She was a very enthusiastic and expert telephone consulter and inspired me to come back to my practice of 5,000 patients and reconfigure our whole appointment system!
I work in an area of high deprivation with English as a second language for the majority of my patients. I have been doing telephone consultation surgeries for the past 2 months and am able to have 40 contacts in a 4-hour surgery compared to the 20 I was having before.
I have had no patient complaints, in fact some patients have been very grateful not to have to wait in our small waiting room! So far there have been no admissions to hospital where I have missed any medical emergencies over the phone due to lack of visual cues, in fact I notice that due to my increased self awareness of the lack of cues, I concentrate more and am doing better consultations which I believe to be safer.
The practical tips Sally gave me such as speak to children directly if they are over aged 6, and ask where abdominal pain is in relation to the belly button, and preparing people for important information I am about to give them for safety netting, has actually made my information giving and examination of a much higher quality.
Thank you for your hard work and inspiration Sally.
Dr Farzana Hussain GP, trainer, appraiser and London deanery mentor, The Project Surgery, Plaistow, London
Sally gave two consecutive 3-hour presentations, first to 30 reception and administrative staff, then to 30 clinical staff.
The room was cramped, hot and less than ideal but both groups agreed it was some of the best training we had ever had. The Practice staff in particular were enthused, empowered and involved.
The Drs felt the same, Sally kept us engaged and involved throughout, 3 hours flew by. I don't know how she did it especially the second time.
It was interactive and fun with plenty of questions and answers. She made us feel like a team and the Practice buzzed for days after. In summary, "we could not have done it without you, thank you".
Dr Chris Neukom,
City Walls Medical Centre Chester
I would like to send a quick note of feedback regarding our telephone consultation training held recently in Sheffield.
Immediately prior to the training (initially of reception staff and then of doctors/nurses) our waiting times for a pre-bookable appointment were approx 8 weeks at one site and 3 weeks at the other site.
Within 2 months of running the triage pilot with trained staff, the waiting times are 2 weeks and 3 days respectively. AND patient satisfaction has increased measurably as evidenced by monitoring of patient satisfaction since the trial.
I am absolutely delighted with these results, our patients and practices are already seeing benefits in a matter of months.
Dr Rob Partington, The Mathews Practice, Sheffield.
I was lucky enough to spend a day with Sally-Anne as part of my training for the new 111 GP Telephone Triage service.
Sally-Anne is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher. I was so impressed, I booked her to train the rest of my practice, both clinical and non-clinical.
Given how much work we now do over the telephone, I would recommend to all.
Dr Andy Parsons, GP,
Kilmeny group Medical Practice Keighley
Sally-Anne Pygall led some training sessions on telephone triage for clinicians for us here at MedOCC in April 2015. The sessions were very well received and all who attended found them to be relevant and worthwhile.
Sally-Anne was excellent, with a varied and informative style that kept everyone fully engaged throughout. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending her to colleagues looking for similar training.
Dr Simon Collins, MRCGP, Medical Director,
Medway On Call Care, Chatham, Kent
I attended the above course this morning at Boroughbury Medical Centre in Peterborough and wanted to say a huge thank you.
I think it was the best course I have ever attended and I have been around the block a few times!
Karen McIIravie, Receptionist
Just to let you know that our staff have given us overwhelming positive feedback about the course yesterday. They have said it was one of the best, if not the best courses they have ever been on!
They said they think this is an absolute must for all staff, regardless of how experienced they are.
J Elliott, Practice Manager
Devaney Medical Centre, Oxton, Wirral
After increasingly poor responses from patients about our appointment system – not to mention increasing frustration and despair from our Reception team – we knew it was time to try and improve our GP appointment system.
We knew that a lot of the changes we wanted to make would hinge on how well our team (both Receptionists and GPs) could communicate with patients on the phone. We wanted the Receptionists to be able to better signpost each patient to the best way of meeting their need and the GPs to triage when they needed to. If we got both of these right, we felt the demand for face-to-face appointments could become more manageable and the GPs could concentrate their
face-to-face consultation time on those patients who really needed to be seen (as opposed to those that needed a form filling out or a simple BP taken etc).
We had a look at what was out there and found a Practice who had made some successful changes of the type we were looking at with the help of Sally-Anne Pygall. So, we contacted Sally-Anne and invited her to help us, too. With a clinical background, Sally-Anne immediately hit it off with our GPs – and her bubbly personality, coupled with her knowledge and experience of different Practices quickly won over our Reception team. Her no-nonsense, practical approach meant we were ready and able to make the changes we needed in the timescale we planned. As a direct result of Sally-Anne’s input, our Receptionists now feel more comfortable and confident in signposting our patients when they request a GP appointment – and our GPs feel more comfortable and confident with telephone triage/consultations. And the demand for our appointments is now so much more manageable.
SUCCESS!
I wholeheartedly recommend Sally-Anne to any Practice who is struggling to manage their demand for GP appointments. Effective communication with your patients is a key part of the solution and Sally-Anne is an expert with lots of practical advice and effective support to guide you through the changes you need to make.
Jacky Slator, Business Manager,
Grove House Practice
I have been a Registered Nurse since 1980 and worked in many different clinical settings over the years, both institutional and community based, trending towards telephone-based roles over the past decade.
Over the phone I've worked in health education, advice and referral, as well as counselling and crisis intervention. For over 5 years now I've worked in an Australian service providing telephone triage to members of the community, funded by government programs.
I had had only very limited in-house company-specific training until I was made aware of Sally-Anne Pygall's brilliant training programs when I saw her presentation at the Australian Practice Nurses' Association conference.
I found myself looking at telephone triage with a whole new perspective, understanding and enthusiasm, which had slowly ebbed away after years of working in an uninspiring and business-oriented call centre environment.
Via the website I subscribed to the email newsletter, and read Sally-Anne was planning to provide skilled workshops in telephone triage to nurses in Sydney and Melbourne.
Attending the workshop was a special day for me. I found Sally-Anne's comprehensive experience of telephone triage and all the many important considerations from a communication, clinical, and professional point of view extremely valuable for my area of nursing.
Since the workshop I have been able to put so many of the valuable tips and insights into practice. I also find I'm getting an even better response from my callers and a great deal more job satisfaction knowing my heart and mind are truly back in it again.
I'm a telephone triage nurse, I'm always learning something new, and I'm proud of the service I provide.
Robyn McGarvie, RN
Victoria, Australia
I cannot thank you enough, you related to the difficulties our receptionists are faced with and provided positive, constructive ways in dealing with patients.
When staff have been working in particular ways for many years it is difficult to encourage change, particularly as some feel it a personal criticism, you were very reassuring towards the receptionists and approached this with sensitivity. I’m sure
individually each Receptionist will now do something different.
I liked the way that you turned negatives in to positive solutions, and how you took the staff through triaging which is one particular area of resistance. They really admired the way you turned this train of thought around.
Kath Morgan, Practice Manager,
Fforestfach Medical Group, Swansea
Sally-Anne was commissioned to provide customer care training to patient facing staff.
The training was extremely well received, evaluated positively and received excellent feedback. We found it beneficial that we were able to tailor the training to meet the needs of our practices.
We have since commissioned a customer complaints handling session and are working with Sally-Anne to provide a bespoke offering in line with the requirements of our GP practices.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Sally‐Anne as a training provider, the service provided is gold star.
Katya Anthony, Project Manager
Nottingham West CCG
It was a pleasure to work with Sally-Anne. Her expertise, knowledge base and dedication to increasing awareness in this undervalued skill was evident.
Initially I had organised face to face training for nurse practitioners with one GP present, the subsequent debate was infectious across the organisation. This led to two educational events being held for GPs - they provoked constructive debate and provided an environment of critical reflection.
Sally-Anne's input to our organisation has been invaluable, clinicians are now prepared to embrace the implementation of change. Thank you Sally-Anne.
Joanne Jackson, Clinical Manager
Preston Primary Care Centre Ltd
Sally-Anne recently ran a two-day workshop for the Waitrose Occupational Health team. Prior to the workshop, she worked with one of our team to identify the specific needs of Occupational Health and endeavoured to deliver bespoke training to our team.
The training workshop was excellent, professionally delivered and relevant to our area of practice. The team gave very positive feedback regarding the training.
Clare Mitchell-Singh, Manager, Occupational Health
Waitrose Ltd
We have just had Sally-Anne Pygall to the practice for the day to advise and train doctors and staff on telephone communication skills.
She dealt with non-clinical staff in the morning and clinical staff in the afternoon.
The surgery was most impressed by her comprehensive, well thought out approach, which culminated in putting theory into practice.
She is obviously an extremely capable teacher who knows her subject well, presenting her content in an educationally sound manner that kept the groups engaged throughout.
She brings a fresh patient centered view to the busy demanding situation we all deal with.
Her aim is to safely provide the patient with what they need, rather than what they thought they actually wanted, whilst leaving them satisfied that they have been looked after by a competent caring professional.
In today's environment of health care in General Practice, we feel this is our greatest challenge.
I would thoroughly recommend her to any practice, whether you think you have got it right already or not!
Dr Sally Hunt GP,
Litchdon Medical Centre, Barnstaple
Sally-Anne worked with a number of practices in South Manchester CCG to support them in making changes to their appointments systems and managing patient demand.
She provided practical and valuable tools to facilitate telephone triage, assisting both the reception teams and clinicians to handle calls confidently, signpost patients effectively and manage patient expectation and need.
Her hands-on and friendly style was very well received by all the practices and they each fed back positive reports of the excellent training she delivered.
We would definitely work with Sally-Anne again; her experienced and professional approach really works!
Nancy Ryalls, Locality Manager
South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group
Walsall CCG recently commissioned Sally-Anne Pygall to provide training to clinicians and administrators/practice managers at five GP practices to support them to deliver a GP telephone triage pilot to improve patient access to general practice.
Feedback from the training was excellent, with one GP saying he had attended a number of telephone triage training courses in the past and this was the best one he had attended.
Sally-Anne is extremely flexible and supportive, working constructively with the CCG to organise and deliver this training across a number of practices to ensure best value.
The five pilots are at various stages of completion and early indications are very positive: the training provided by Sally-Anne has played a key role in supporting the pilots to be successful.
Carol Marsten,
Walsall CCG