The 8 am rush hits.
Every call is answered.

Yes — because it is designed never to. fonea answers only the practical questions your practice approves: hours, directions, what to bring, preparation instructions you have signed off, prescription pick-up procedures. Anything that touches symptoms, medication, or treatment becomes a structured message for the clinical team or an escalation per your protocol. The assistant does not improvise, interpret, or reassure — it books, informs, records, and escalates.

Exactly what your protocol says. You define the scenarios that trigger an instant transfer to your duty line, and the wording for genuine emergencies — typically directing the caller to 112 or your local emergency number immediately. fonea applies those rules consistently on every call, at 8 am and at midnight, and notifies your team in parallel. It never substitutes its own judgement for your protocol.

Yes. What patients say on the phone can be special-category data under Article 9 of the GDPR, and fonea treats it that way: a data processing agreement, encryption in transit and at rest, retention windows you configure, and support for your Data Protection Impact Assessment. Audio is transcribed in real time and discarded; no voice profiles are ever created.

AI processing runs on European infrastructure, and persistent data is stored in Switzerland — a jurisdiction with an EU adequacy decision. There are no data transfers to third countries without adequate protection, and you control how long call transcripts are retained before deletion.

fonea books through calendar interfaces: Google Calendar, Microsoft 365, and most practice-management systems via iCal or API. We confirm the integration path in the kick-off call. Where no direct connector exists, the workflow runs reliably through Google Calendar or Outlook — with real-time availability and no double-bookings.

On the practical level, yes. fonea explains your practice’s procedure for requesting and collecting repeat prescriptions and takes a structured message — patient name, date of birth, medication as stated, pharmacy — for the clinical team to action. It never approves, issues, or advises on medication; the decision always stays with your clinicians.

From £90 per month including 120 minutes of call time, with no setup fee and no minimum term — cancel monthly, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Setup takes hours: we configure greeting, appointment types, approved practical answers and your escalation protocol, connect the calendar, and you go live via call divert on your existing number.

fonea introduces itself as a digital assistant at the start of every call — the disclosure cannot be switched off. Patients who ask for a human are transferred to your team immediately if someone is available, or logged as a prioritised callback with their name, number, and concern. Your reception calls back with full context instead of fielding the same call blind.