Implementing Remote Appointments at Auckland DHB
No waiting time and no transport concerns.
COVID-19 has brought many challenges, but equally opportunities to do things differently. Here at Auckland DHB, one change is that many of our patients can now have their appointments by phone or video.
To keep the community safe, visits to our hospital sites were restricted during COVID-19 lockdown. As patients continued to require appointments, we needed to look for new ways to provide patient care.
Thanks to collaboration between the Health Information and Technology and Performance Improvement teams, and healthAlliance, 50 services now offer patients phone and video appointments. Since mid-March schedulers have booked 65,000 phone and video appointments.
Statistics for remote appointments at ADHB since mid-March.
Teaching clinical and administrative staff how to use a new video conferencing platform was crucial to achieving success, so Ara Manawa created quick reference guides.
Staff have had a great response to the guides, saying that they “didn’t just focus on the what, but also set up expectations around the how, and this created a focus on patient experience.”
Guides were created to aid clinicians in using the video conferencing platform.
Having appointments by phone and video is also proving very positive with patients. Here’s a snapshot of what they’ve been saying.
Demonstrating the video conferencing software in use (no actual patient depicted in this image).
“Due to COVID 19 my appointment was held over the phone. That was great as it meant that I didn’t have to make arrangements to be at the clinic. No waiting time and no transport concerns.”
“Having the appointment via phone was excellent! Saves time and cost! Win Win Win.”
May 2020
THANKS TO
All of the patients, whānau and staff who have engaged with telehealth.
The Performance Improvement team for all of their hard work getting telehealth up and running.
CONTRIBUTORS
healthAlliance
Health Information and Technology
Performance Improvement team