How The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Reduced Patient Waitlist Times by 71% with Digital Patient Pathways

The hospital says it has seen reduced booking wait times and drops in phone calls. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, has reduced how long patients have to wait for their endoscopy or colonoscopy procedures through digital patient pathways.

Since 2008, the 303-bed teaching hospital has provided care to endoscopy patients through its Direct Access Colonoscopy (DAC) programme. This programme seeks to give accelerated care access to eligible, lower-risk patients

Over the years, the DAC has seen a significant increase in demand. As a result, the workload involved with conducting risk assessments has gone up significantly while the volume of calls, coupled with triage time, has also swelled. The added pressure has led to longer waitlists and in some instances, underutilisation of theatres, the hospital noted.

To address these issues, TQEH worked with Personify Care in 2021 to deliver the programme via digital patient pathways. After being referred to the programme, patients are sent an invitation to their digital pathway where they can complete clinical risk assessments and access personalised health information.