Calls and the AI assistant
Phone line
Connect your pharmacy's phone line to the AI assistant, choose which calls it answers, and make sure callers can always reach your team. For pharmacy owners.
What it does
The AI assistant answers calls on its own phone number (your AI line). It tells callers whether their prescription is ready (after checking their surname, date of birth and postcode), gives opening hours and directions, and puts callers through to your transfer number for anything else — medicines questions, stock, accounts, bookings, or whenever they ask for a person.
You don't need to change your existing number. You choose which calls reach the assistant by setting call diversion on the line you already have.
Where to find it
Header → your initials → Pharmacy → Phone line (/dashboard/pharmacy?tab=phone-line). Owner only.
Step by step
For a pharmacy group, choose a branch in the Pharmacy list at the top of the section to set up that branch's line instead (owner only).
1. Get your AI line number
PharmaLineAI sets up a UK number for the assistant and connects it to your pharmacy. It then shows in AI line number on the Phone line card, which you can read but not change: calls are routed to your pharmacy by that number, so only PharmaLineAI assigns it. To change it, contact support.
2. Fill in the Phone line card
- AI line number — shown for reference, e.g.
+44 161 496 0099. Until it is set up, it reads Not assigned yet and the assistant can't be switched on. - Transfer number — a line your team answers: a second line, an extension, a manager's mobile, or your own number if it diverts only when you're busy or don't answer (see One number only?). The assistant can't be switched on without one. It must be a UK landline (01, 02 or 03), a mobile (07) or freephone (0800, 0808); premium, personal (070) and international numbers can't be used, and the same goes for the number under When you're closed.
- Your pharmacy's number and Which calls it diverts to the AI line — the number patients ring, and the diversion you set up in step 3 below. If your transfer number is that same number and every call to it goes to the AI line, a warning shows: nobody could be put through.
- When you're closed — optional. Leave it blank, and outside your opening hours (set in Pharmacy → Details & hours) a caller who needs your team isn't put through. The assistant tells them you're closed and when you open again, and to call NHS 111 for urgent medical advice or 999 in an emergency. Nobody's phone rings. Add a number to put after-hours callers through to it instead, such as an on-call mobile. Until opening hours are set, every call is put through as if you were open.
- Greeting — how the assistant opens, e.g. "Thanks for calling Riverside Pharmacy." Callers are always told they're speaking to an automated assistant, that the call is transcribed, and that they can ask for a member of the team.
- Record AI calls for review — optional, off to begin with. When ticked, calls the assistant answers are recorded so your team can listen back beside the transcript (Calls → click a caller). Say so in your greeting first. Recordings are deleted after the retention period, like transcripts.
- Patient and prescription data — leave on PharmaLineAI records unless your pharmacy system (Titan PMR) has been connected for you.
- Tick Answer calls with the AI assistant and click Save phone line.
The badge next to the title shows AI answering once everything is connected.
3. Choose which calls reach the assistant
On your existing phone line, set up diversion to the AI line number. Ask your phone provider, or use your handset or phone system settings:
| If you want the assistant to… | Set up |
|---|---|
| Help only when nobody picks up (a good start) | Divert on no answer, e.g. after 4 rings |
| Help when all your lines are busy | Divert when busy |
| Answer every call first | Divert all calls |
| Answer when you're closed | An out-of-hours rule on your phone system |
On many UK lines the codes are *61*<AI number># (no answer), *67*<AI number># (busy) and *21*<AI number># (all calls). #61#, #67# and #21# switch them off. Check with your provider, because codes and charges vary.
Then set Which calls it diverts to the AI line on the Phone line card to match.
One number only?
If your pharmacy has just one number, the assistant puts callers through by ringing that same number. That only works if your phones ring when it does:
- Divert on no answer or when busy (recommended). Your phones ring first and the assistant picks up what you can't. When it puts a caller through, your phones ring again. Choose Only when we're busy or don't answer.
- Divert all calls, with a phone-system rule. Some phone systems (a hosted or cloud system, or an office switchboard) can ring your phones for calls from the AI line number and divert everyone else. Choose Every call, except calls from the AI line.
- Divert all calls, nothing else. Your phones never ring, so a transfer to your own number would come straight back to the assistant. PharmaLineAI doesn't ring it: callers who need the team hear that nobody can answer, and 999 in an emergency. Use one of the options above, or a different line your staff answer, such as a mobile.
A plain landline may only divert one call at a time; other callers then hear the engaged tone. Ask your provider how many diverted calls your line can carry at once.
4. Test it
- Use the Agent test console (your initials → Agent test console) to check what callers will hear for a real patient.
- Call your main number from a mobile and let the diversion kick in. Ask "What time do you close?", then ask for a member of the team, and check your transfer number rings.
Switch the assistant off
Untick Answer calls with the AI assistant and click Save phone line. Every call to the AI line then goes straight to your transfer number. It takes effect immediately.
What each screen shows
- Phone line card — the on/off switch, your AI line number (read-only), the transfer number, your own number and how it diverts, greeting, call recording and data source.
- Calls — every call the assistant handled or transferred, with the intent and outcome.
- Usage — call minutes this month.
Tips & good to know
- Avoid loops. If your main line diverts all calls to the assistant, don't use the main number as the transfer number (see One number only?). If a transfer does come back to the assistant, it isn't answered a second time: the caller hears that nobody could answer, and 999 in an emergency, but won't reach you.
- Dates of birth and postcodes can be said any way: "the 7th of February 1991", "07/02/1991", a postcode with or without spaces. If the details don't match first time, the assistant reads back what it heard, slowly, so the caller can correct it.
- Wrong details. If the details still don't match after a few tries, the assistant stops checking and puts the caller through to your team. It never says which detail was wrong.
- Out of hours the assistant still answers hours, address and services, and prescription status. Only putting callers through changes: see When you're closed above. Bank holidays aren't known yet, so on one the assistant goes by that weekday's normal hours.
- If anything goes wrong — the assistant can't reach its service, your pharmacy system hasn't updated recently, or it isn't sure — it puts the caller through to your team.
- Titan PMR. When records come from Titan, the assistant only reads prescription status while Titan is sending updates. If Titan goes quiet, prescription calls are transferred.
Troubleshooting
- The badge says "AI on — awaiting setup" — your AI line is still being set up by PharmaLineAI. Calls still work, and go to your transfer number. Contact support if this lasts.
- "PharmaLineAI hasn't assigned your AI line number yet" — your number isn't set up. Contact support.
- Callers hear "this number isn't set up yet" — the number being called isn't the one shown in AI line number. Contact support to check it.
- Transfers don't ring — check the transfer number from a mobile, and make sure it doesn't divert back to the AI line. If the Phone line card shows a warning about your own number, follow One number only?. Outside your opening hours they only ring if you've added a number under When you're closed.
- "Use a UK landline, mobile or freephone number…" — the number you typed can't be used for transfers. Use one your team answers on a UK landline, mobile or freephone line.
- A caller wasn't put through and heard "no one is available" — check the transfer number in Pharmacy → Phone line is a UK landline, mobile or freephone number. Transfers also pause for a while if an unusually large number of calls need transferring in a short time; callers are still told to call 999 in an emergency and to try again later.
- Callers are told you're closed when you're open — check your hours in Pharmacy → Details & hours, and the timezone shown there.
Related guides
- Your pharmacy — details, branches and keys beside the phone line.
- Calls & the AI agent
- Agent training
- Patients
- Prescriptions