The London Vision Clinic is a renowned eye surgery centre, located in London, United Kingdom. Opened in 2002 by Professor Reinstein, the clinic is famous for its state-of-the-art technology and experienced surgeons who offer vision correction solutions for conditions such as near-sightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia, and cataracts.
The London Vision Clinic identified inefficiencies caused by outdated work processes, particularly around employee workflows and customer engagement. Deploying DocuSign eSignature for Salesforce has enabled them to better optimise time management for staff, while at the same time improving data compliance and achieving smarter ways of engaging with patients.
Enabling business growth via DocuSign eSignature
London Vision Clinic first began using DocuSign because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the country came out of lockdown, and face-to-face appointments could once again happen, the business needed to put in place pre-screening precautions. This consisted of a pre-visit questionnaire ensuring that patients did not have symptoms of the virus.
Manually setting up and processing patient responses would have required many hours of additional work. Therefore, the clinic chose to automate the process and DocuSign eSignature was chosen due to its position as the market leader, but also due to it seamlessly integrating with Salesforce, a tool already being used within the business.
As Tim Archer, Research Manager at London Vision Clinic, explains: “Covid gave us the impetus to start using DocuSign and doing so in a small and manageable way worked well. It gave us the motivation to keep finding other ways to reduce hard copies of documents.”
Prior to working with DocuSign, London Vision Clinic worked in highly time-consuming and laborious processes. On first arriving at the clinic, patients would need to read and sign a three-page form. Liaising with the optometrist, patients would then need to read a 40-page agreement document, placing initials on every page to signify it had been read and understood. Surgeons and clinical staff are also required to sign the document at multiple points along the agreement journey. Such processes took up valuable patient and optometrist time, slowing down efficiencies across the business.
Signed documents would then need to be manually double-checked for accuracy, while medico-legal compliance also required that every page be signed correctly by both patients and stakeholders. These documents would then need to be scanned into the London Vision Clinic database, another time-consuming and laborious process.
Seamless digital integration with DocuSign for Salesforce
London Vision Clinic found implementing DocuSign eSignature with its Salesforce systems to be quick and easy. As Archer explains, “We only wanted to implement it if it was a fully automated process. This meant not having to rely on people to set up templates, or even click a button.”
Seven days before an appointment, the system automatically sends a DocuSign through Salesforce to the patient. London Vision Clinic uses DocuSign Retrieve to collect signed and returned envelopes, documents, and information based on patient filters set within the system and places them within the business’s medical record database.
Once its initial contact template was in place, the business looked for other areas of the business to automate. On arrival at the clinic, clients previously had to fill out a three-page personal information form, which was time-consuming for the patient and laborious for staff, as this data would need to be manually entered into the system, which could potentially lead to data errors. Using DocuSign eSignature, this form is now sent out a week before the appointment so patients can complete, sign and have it automatically returned at their convenience.“The ability to work in advance with patients via DocuSign is just much less stressful for everyone involved,” says Archer. “The added benefits of speed, efficiency, and accuracy are huge additional advantages.”
The long-term goal for London Vision Clinic was to use DocuSign eSignature with its 40-page clinic consent form; and that goal has now been firmly realised.
Feedback from within the clinic has been positive. Clients appreciate the streamlined approach to time efficiency and patient care, while employees value that it has removed mundane tasks from their roles, freeing up time for more patient-facing tasks.
The digitisation of forms has also considerably reduced paper and postage usage. As Archer explains: “With our old ways of working, we would print a whole box of documents to try and be cost effective. However, if you wanted to change any information you would have to wait until the next print run, or throw away documents, which was costly and environmentally damaging.”
Continued digital gains using DocuSign eSignature
Integrating DocuSign eSignature into the workflow of Salesforce has delivered a positive impact to London Vision Clinic staff, its surgeons, and patients. The streamlining of procedures has reduced manual tasks, improved time-management efficiency and delivered compliance and due diligence.
With the automation of its core processes, London Vision Clinic has fulfilled many of its initial goals. However, it continues to evaluate its digital journey, looking for more opportunities where the DocuSign tool can help reduce manual processes through digitalisation.
As Archer concludes: “For London Vision Clinic, the biggest impact of automation using DocuSign has been freeing up people to do more interesting things, such as spend more time with patients, and that is something we will continue to pursue.”