medical dental
How Dr Lerato, a GP in Knysna, kept patient communication under control during flu season
A solo GP practice handled flu-season message volume without hiring temporary staff by combining MJ-drafted replies with strict approval queueing.
Knysna's population shifts dramatically with the seasons — quiet in winter, packed during flu season and over December. Dr Lerato runs a solo GP practice and historically had to hire temporary admin help just to keep up with after-hours WhatsApp messages from patients.
ClientPulse changed the routing. Patients who message after hours now get an immediate reply from MJ that confirms receipt, asks the right triage questions, and books the next available slot if appropriate. Anything that needs a clinician — symptoms outside MJ's confidence, anything sensitive — gets handed back as a task for Dr Lerato to handle the next morning.
The bilingual templates matter here. Roughly a quarter of her patient base prefers Afrikaans, and ClientPulse honours each patient's language preference automatically — birthday messages, reminders, recall, MJ replies. No more accidentally sending an English Afrikaans patient an English template.
She didn't hire temporary admin help this flu season. The practice ran the same patient volume with the same staff, and patients reported feeling more responsive than ever.
“Patients tell me I've become more responsive — I haven't. The system has.”
Dr Lerato — General Practitioner, Knysna