The hospital, which recently launched Mobile Appointment Manager as part of a range of measures to support infection control practices aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19, piloted the use of the platform to help manage the flow of staff through its vaccination clinics.
Michele Roberts, Outpatients Department General Manager, said: “The initial process to manage our UHD staff vaccination programme was to book staff appointments onto our PAS system, allowing us to use the Mobile Appointment Manager for staff to check in for their vaccination.
This helped support with the flow management of the clinics and proved to be very successful in ensuring there were no bottlenecks created at the reception desk area. Staff that used the QR codes to launch the mobile check-in app said it was a very easy to use and that by checking in using this method, it supported social-distancing practices.
Speaking about how Mobile Appointment Manager will benefit the hospital overall, Michele explained: “Mobile check in will help us safely manage the flow of patients in the department at any one time, for example by giving them the ability to check-in in on arrival in the hospital vicinity, and then wait there comfortably and safely before being notified via the app when it is time to move to their clinic area for their scheduled appointment.
“Not only does this give patients much greater convenience and flexibility to avoid busy waiting areas and choose where and how they wait for their appointment, but it also supports our infection prevention measures by, for example, reducing the number of patients inside the hospital and minimising the requirement for interaction with patients and reception staff. Patients can safely self- distance in outside waiting areas or in their cars until they are called for their appointment through the app.
“Enabling patients to check-in on their mobiles also releases staff time to perform more qualitative interaction with patients, further improving the patient experience.”