Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced a set of system changes to enhance the outpatient appointment booking process and improve access to care for patients.

The changes include implementing a new appointment booking system and establishing new referral management sections in each of HMC hospitals under the control of appointment management teams in coordination with the individual outpatient department management teams.

Highly experienced staff have been selected to work in these sections. This means that hospitals have more control of booking appointments for their patients and helps to avoid unnecessary delays. This plan also empowers the clinical team and facilities with referral and booking management resources.

Nasser Al Naimi, Deputy Chief of Quality for Center for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement and Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute explained that this project was launched in March 2022 with the support of H.E. Minister of Public Health Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, and it included a comprehensive review of the end-to-end booking process to identify and resolve issues with respect to referral, e-triage, in-calling, and appointment booking processes.

"These changes are being made in stages, with the first stage covering seven HMC hospitals, Ambulatory Care Center, Hamad General Hospital, Al Wakra Hospital, Al Khor Hospital, Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Women's Wellness and Research Center, as well as the Bone and Joint Center and Hamad Dental Center. The project will be carried out in the remaining hospitals this year as we successfully continue to make significant changes to improve patient care," said Al Naimi.

Speaking about the positive impacts following the launch of the new referral booking management system, Mr. Nasser Al Naimi stated that through this system, the OPD appointment waiting list issues for Qatari patients is no longer existing in any of the mentioned facilities.

"We achieved an unprecedented rate in wait times elimination at ACC OPD as Qatari patients are now able to book their appointment on the same day of receiving their referrals. The project was launched in March 2022, and the wait times lists included 10000 patients awaiting OPD bookings." Al Naimi stated that another initiative that will soon benefit patients and ensure faster access to care is the upcoming launch of evening clinics at the Ambulatory Care Center for the following specialities: Ophthalmology, Ear, Nose and Throat, Urology and Audiology.

"Once we launch the evening clinics, we will add this service to the Nesma'ak 16060 hotline and helpline services to facilitate the management of patient appointments." "The 16060 Nesma'ak Customer Service helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients can call the 16060 Nesma'ak helpline and then select the appointment hotline service to manage their upcoming appointments at HMC facilities whether they want to change or cancel it. In 2022, the Nesma'ak teams received more than 971,000 calls from patients with enquiries related to their appointments, with around 25% of patients failing to attend their appointments," said Al Naimi.

Source: QNA
Cover image credit: Hamad Medical Corporation

Follow us on our social media channels: @ILQlive @ILQlive @ILoveQtr ILoveQatar

Fareeha Imtiaz

Start a discussion