Before July, 2017, patients needing follow-up appointments in the Dermatology Outpatients Department were added to a special list and awaited a call from the booking team up in Haywards Heath for scheduling. The team in the Dermatology Department noticed that this was causing unnecessary distress and inconvenience for their patients. They wanted to make the process easier and stress-free.
Their plan? Expand their service to include bookings for day-case procedures. The team synchronized their technology to manage the booking system for day-case surgery appointments within the Patient Administration System they were already using. They also used charitable funds to reconfigure the reception area to accommodate a separate workstation solely dedicated to providing this additional service for patients. Now, patients needing to be scheduled are served by friendly receptionists and booking clerks, Charlie or Tina.
When asked how this additional service directly helped patients, Charlie replied, “Patients feel less anxiety because they know straight away when they will be seen next. They can better plan their lives around their procedure, especially those with families. And it’s freed up time for the team, as we receive significantly less calls from patients on the waiting list asking when their appointments will be. They already know!”
Tina also shared, “Patients leave the department after discussing the admission procedure and with a written information leaflet about the day case procedure. The information can then be read and digested at the patient’s leisure.”
The result? Now, when patients come in for an outpatient appointment and need to be scheduled in for a day-case procedure, they are fully sorted before they leave the building. Thanks to this additional service in the department, the team can regularly serve around 150 patients each month, and they have reduced the waiting list from 150 patients to 20 – all within just 4 months. Thanks to donations to the BSUH Charity, a systematic, organised, helpful system has been created which ensures confidence and calmness in patients.
