In the Advice Shop in West Lothian we set appointments when someone contacts us with a debt/ money advice issue. Due to the recession business is increasing, and we now have a 5 week waiting list. This causes customers worry, it also means that a lot of potential customers don't turn up for the interview.
Does anyone out there have a system that deals with/ filters enquiries at first contact, e.g. through the use of factsheets, or 'diagnostic' interviews.

Appreciate any thoughts.

Cheers
Alan

Alan Cunningham
Welfare Strategy Manager
West Lothian Council

There are a lot of agencies that use a triage system for initial diagnosis and to determine urgency / severity etc. CABx are adopting this widely now.

It might not be much help when there are too many serious cases for your resources to deal with. There are some IT systems that can help, case management, debt counseling, benefits advice and some like our new ones that are more integrated but they all cost money too and it's a balance whether the increase in throughput and accuracy will solve the problem and justify the price.

The real point, of course, is that need is rising and funders should be informed enough to understand that and to try to put extra into these services.