EE
O2
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Three
giffgaff
Sky Mobile
SMARTY
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iD Mobile
Asda Mobile
Virgin Mobile
Missed call text service
for physiotherapists
You have your hands on a patient. There is no answering the phone during a treatment session, and treatment sessions are what fills your diary. Meanwhile the person who has just done their back in is ringing round for the first appointment they can get.
Why physiotherapists miss calls
Appointments run back to back and each one requires your full attention and both hands. Interrupting a session to take a call is unacceptable clinically as well as commercially. Many practitioners also work without reception cover, particularly those who are self-employed or working in mixed clinic space, so there is nobody else to pick up.
The maths
What one missed patient is worth
A single assessment is a modest fee. A course of treatment is six or eight sessions, and a patient who returns whenever something flares up is worth that repeatedly over years. Someone in pain who cannot get through will book with whoever answers, and once they have a physio they trust, they do not come looking again.
TextTheCaller is £6.49 a month. Set against the value of the work above, it only has to keep one caller from ringing the next name on the list to have paid for itself several times over.
What to write in your text
You write the message once and it goes out on every missed call. Here's one that works for physiotherapists:
Thanks for calling Calder Physiotherapy. I'm with a patient and can't answer. I'll return your call between appointments, or book online at calderphysio.co.uk.
It sends from your business name
The caller sees your business name, not a phone number — so there's nothing for them to reply to. Give them something they can act on instead: a booking link, an email address, or a time you'll ring back.
160 characters
One SMS segment. The example above fits with room to spare, and we'll show you the count as you write so nothing gets cut off.
How it works
No app, no new number, no contract.
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1
Sign up with your mobile number
Enter your number, pick your network and set your business name. No password — we email you a magic link.
About 30 seconds
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2
Set unanswered-call forwarding
Follow the tailored dial-code or handset instructions for your carrier, then make a quick test call.
One time only
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3
Write your text-back
Use the example above or write your own. Next time a call rings out, the caller gets it within seconds.
Change it any time
It works on your existing number on every compatible UK network, and only ever triggers on calls you don't answer. Pick up as normal and nothing happens at all. If you want the general version before the physiotherapists detail, read the missed call text service overview.
Step two is the only one that changes depending on who your line is with. We have written the unanswered-call divert up for each network separately — EE, O2, Vodafone, Three, giffgaff, Sky Mobile, SMARTY, Talkmobile, iD Mobile, Asda Mobile and Virgin Mobile — because the menu names, the codes each one accepts and what happens after a SIM swap are genuinely different. If you are not sure where to start, the general guide to stopping calls going to voicemail covers the part that is the same everywhere.
Questions from physiotherapists
It is a text saying you are with a patient and will call back — no clinical information is involved, and the caller has not told you anything at the point it is sent. It is the same courtesy a receptionist would offer.
Once a week at most, and never if they are on your skip list.
You can, though a website link usually does more in the same space — it carries the address, your hours and your prices together.
Also built for
Every missed call is a job someone else gets
Keep your number. Two minutes to set up. Cancel whenever you like.
7 days free, then £6.49/mo. Cancel any time.