Somerset Artificial Intelligence Virtual Agent – Alex

Our trust will be piloting a new virtual assistant called Alex to help manage appointment inquiries for you, our patients.

Initially Alex, the virtual assistant, will be trialled with the following 3 services:

  • Orthopaedic Assessment Service (OASIS)
  • MSk Physiotherapy (MSk)
  • Podiatry

This will be another way that you can contact the service about your appointments.

You can message the text based virtual assistant to view and ask questions about your booked and confirmed appointments within the next 100 days, along with requesting a call back from the service in regards of an appointment cancellation or reschedule request.

The aim of this product is to improve your experience when managing appointments and help assist in rescheduling any bookings you are unable to attend while providing an easier way to remind you of future booked appointments.

You can speak to the virtual agent through this page by clicking on the Green ‘Chat now’ button

If you need help, please contact the booking office named in your appointment letter.

You can ask me to:

  • Show your appointments booked and confirmed within the next 100 days
  • Request a call back from the service to cancel an upcoming appointment which is no longer required
  • Request a call back from the service to reschedule an upcoming appointment to a new date/time
  • Questions about your upcoming appointment(s) e.g. What should I bring to my appointment?

Please note, if you wish to amend an appointment scheduled in the next 48hours (excluding weekends/Bank Holidays), please contact the booking office urgently by telephone.

Orthopaedic Assessment Service (OASIS)  booking office lines open from 8.30am – 4.15pm, Monday to Friday.
Tel: 01278 432020

Podiatry booking office lines open from 08:30am – 4:00pm, Monday to Friday
Tel: 01460 247555
Bartec, Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Chard, Frome, Minehead, Parkgate, Shepton Mallet, Wellington, Wells, West Mendip, Wincanton

MSk Physiotherapy (MSk)  booking office lines open from 08:30am – 4:00pm, Monday to Friday
Tel: 01278 436733
Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Chard, Crewkerne, Dulverton, Frome, Minehead, Shepton Mallet, South Petherton, Wellington, West Mendip, Williton, Wincanton

What is Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence means different things to different people. In this context ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is the use of natural language processing, allowing the virtual agent Alex to understand the comments you type within the webchat.

Once Alex has decided the meaning of your text, it will follow a standard set of questions, laid out by the Trust, giving you responses that have been written by the Trust.

Therefore, the Artificial Intelligence being used in is focused on understanding the language people use and  is not being used to decide the care you should receive.