Scoping review: Prior to design and implementation, conduct a scoping exercise and/or staff member diary to elicit volume of calls received, time spent dealing with calls and nature of calls to the department.

MDT involvement: Involve all relevant members of the MDT who receive calls in the design and implementation of the system, and the related SOP.

QIP Standards: Register the project with and adhere to the standards of a local and/or national QIP platform.

Practical design: Keep the system design simple and consider how data entered could be extracted and used for audit and QIP purposes (eg use of MS Word or MS Excel platforms against other database software such as MS Access).

Training and updates: Inform and train users in the department prior to implementation through example scenarios and presentations and ensure regular updates following implementation to maintain system usage and fidelity.

Monitoring, evaluation and feedback: Perform regular monitoring and evaluation with users – and where possible callers – and consider involvement of colleagues from workforce planning or cost-effectiveness departments to conduct complementary analyses of time and money saved through the call system.

Data review and audit: Aim to systematically collect and review data on the progress and outcomes of patients discussed and entered into the system database.