Appointment
Project information
Topic of the practice
The use of advanced information system for the making of online appointments between patients, doctors and specialists working in the ‘Flevoziekenhuis’. By using a website appointments can be made and information can be passed through from both sides.
Good Practice Information
The use of an advanced information system for the making of online appointments between patients, doctors and specialists working at the ‘Flevoziekenhuis’. By using a website, appointments can be made and information can be passed through from both sides.The goal of the project is to improve the quality of service provided by the Flevoziekenhuis as well as contributing to the quality of care services in Almere and the offering of a set of related e-services through this system. The impact is the enhancing of the quality of life, independence and social strength. The project is owned by the Flevoziekenhuis, which is a hospital in Almere. The project partners are the Flevoziekenhuis, two external consultancy organizations, the technology supplier and Almere Kennisstad.The other stakeholders are the organization for primary health care and the municipality of Almere.
The project is one of the elements in the long term development program of Almere as a fast growing municipality and the ICT program to stimulate citizens in the use of new information technology.
The project was meant to solve the problem of inefficiency in the appointment process, unsatisfied patients due to long waiting times and having patients go to other regions for their medical care. A key success factor in this project was setting up a quality assurance board within the hospital. This board was responsible for taking away all the barriers that were encountered. Other important conditions for potential transfer are regional and local based organizations with the strong believe that this kind of services tackles the decrease of resources and lack of personnel.
Almere Kennisstad drives the innovations by connecting organizations, setting organizational conditions and resources for development.
Evidence of success
The true evidence for success in this project was the fact that because of the use of @ppointment the no-show of patients who had appointments with specialists at the hospital went from 30% to 4%. Because of the flexibility of making their own appointments the number of no-show patients went down. This saved the hospital a lot of money and they earned back the investment in @ppointment in the first year. Another evidence of success is the fact that this application is now being used by more than 15 hospitals in the Netherlands.
Contact details to obtain further information on the practice
Tamer el Masri
Flevo Hospital
Annex completed on: 04-12-2011
