Case Study: The Prince Charles Hospital
The Challenge
The Prince Charles Hospital Specialist Outpatient Service is home to 43 specialist rooms, ranging from cardiac surgery to haematology, oncology, sleep disorders and vascular surgery. On average, around 500 patients per day visit one of the specialist rooms, resulting in large queues. With such a diverse range of services offered, The Prince Charles Hospital needed to implement a Patient Flow solution.
This challenge was compounded by the fact that many patients, particularly those who travel long distances to visit the department, tend to arrive hours before their scheduled appointment, further adding to the existing queues.
Patient visibility was a further challenge, with staff time wasted searching for patients transiting between various departments and looking for ‘lost patients’ waiting in the wrong room.
The Solution
Using NEXA’s Patient Flow solution, patients register their arrival by scanning a barcode on their appointment letter. Each patient enters a virtual queue, which respects the scheduled appointment time. Patients who arrive early are reminded of their actual appointment time and offered suggestions on areas of the hospital they may like to visit during their wait such as the hospital cafeteria. Patients who forget their appointment letter can check in manually by entering their details into the system. Volunteers are also on hand to assist.
The Results
Prior to the introduction of NEXA’s Patient Flow solution, patients would be queued out the door on a Monday morning waiting to register their arrival. Patient Flow has reduced the queue completely, greatly reducing stress for staff and ensuring a more pleasant experience for patients. Clinicians and hospital staff are also using the system to provide information to colleagues on the next phase of the patient journey.
Data captured using the Patient Flow system will be used to improve appointment scheduling in the future as it provides a clear picture on patient flow from entry to exit. Patient Flow provides information on the peaks and troughs of daily work flow, which has the benefit of enabling Nurse Unit Managers to improve staff rosters in the future and ensure high traffic areas are appropriately staffed.
