Chase Farm Hospital is a district general hospital based in Enfield, north London. The hospital processes over 500000 patients each year with a significant proportion visiting the Phlebotomy department. In 2004 the Phlebotomy department was refurbished with the fresh department incorporating a fresh approach to the patient waiting experience.
The Situation
Falling budgets and increasing patient numbers coupled with growing calls for public spending to be reduced (Gershon, Lyon’s and James reports) have lead to significant pressures growing upon the services provided within the NHS.
Chase Farm Phlebotomy fails to escape these burdens and has recently had to adapt to adhere to the ever growing threat of future public spending budget cuts.
Prior to Lonsto’s® involvement with the department Chase Farm phlebotomy operated a basic ticketing system. Visitors would be given a ticket displaying a number upon entrance to the department and would then take a seat until the corresponding number was called out. The system, in operation to deal with the overwhelming patient numbers, caused significant strain upon patients and staff, contributing to the number of annual complaints the hospital received.
Put simply, visitors were waiting too long in an environment that was too strenuous.
The basic ticketing system ensured that the waiting time was coupled with strain as patients did not have an indication as to when they would be seen. Patients who were hard of hearing or had difficulties understanding English would not hear their numbers being called out and at times, due to a lack of co-ordination, would even stray into the cubicles where patients were being treated.
Anger, anxiety and frustration were present amongst the visitors and consequentially this would be passed onto the members of staff decreasing motivation and productivity.
Head of the phlebotomy department Cathy Williams explains, “The old system was very challenging and visitors were waiting too long. Some would queue 2 hours before the department opened where upon entrance they demanded to be seen because of this wait. We work hard to ensure our patients are comfortable when they visit us but the waiting environment just contributed to the already existing anxiety that was present with our old system.”
Why Lonsto?
At an AGM exhibition head of department, Mrs. Williams saw a demonstration of Lonsto’s® Diverter Display System with statistical analysis. The ability to have a call forwarding system that directed patients to a particular cubicle was an attractive feature at removing the level of confusion that had previously existed within the department.
The statistics generated through the PCQMS™ software supplemented the appeal due to the level of benefits that it would entail, waiting times and serving times could all be analysed with appropriate measures taken if needed, the benefits would mean an efficient and more relaxed environment for visiting patients.
The newly constructed department would now have a new approach in dealing with its visitors it was going to be “a fresh start for staff and visitors.”
Implementation
With over 260 hospitals throughout the country with departments ranging from Accident and Emergency to X-Ray benefiting from Lonsto’s® queue management technology a solution could be easily tailored for the problems being encountered at Chase Farm Phlebotomy. The old system was removed and replaced with a new and improved flow.
Patients upon entrance would now go straight to the receptionist. Here patients would ascertain if they were at the right department and if so would be directed to the Intelligent Ticket Dispenser (ITD) where they would be issued with a ticket.
The ticket would contain the date/time the ticket was issued and the average waiting times for that day. Because the statistical system (PCQMS)™ calculated the average waiting times for the last 6 patient’s, patients would have a reliable indication as to how long they would have to be waiting before being seen by a consultant.
Once the consultants were finished with a patient they could press the keypad attached to their cubicle (with this information being passed through to management for statistical analysis) as opposed to shouting out the next number. As a result the next number in the queue is called forward. With the DDS being placed in a central position, visible and audible to all, patients would clearly see and hear that it was them being called forward. With the cubicle number being exhibited upon the display panel there would be no confusion when the patient’s number was called in regards of where to go.
Patients could now relax and wait in an environment free of stress and anxiety.
Going Live
The quick and easy installation of Lonsto’s® Diverter Display System with statistical analysis ensured that staff had sufficient time to embrace the natural learning curve generated by the new technology. Management and staff were taught the operational functions of the system and quickly learnt the full capabilities of what the new system had to offer. Over a short time staff members became familiar with the system finding it easy to operate along with management, who used it to assess staff productivity and average waiting times
Prior to the installation of the system management had to deal with many complaints regarding patient waiting, ranging from how long the waiting times were to why ‘Joe Bloggs’ was being seen before them. Soon after ‘going live’ however such complaints were significantly reduced to the benefit of departmental efficiency.
Immediate Benefits
The incorporation of Lonsto’s® Diverter Display System and Intelligent Ticket Dispenser with statistical analysis was fundamental in elevating patient and staff satisfaction levels.
Because visitors had a ticket and knew their place in the queue, coupled with the fact it displayed average waiting times, they became much happier.
Complaints became few and far between and visitors became content to sit in the waiting area and read a newspaper or magazine. Visitors could no longer “talk their way” into jumping the queue as statistical data could be obtained immediately to disprove such complaints. The reduction in stress levels from the visitors because of this made the staff happier and more productive creating immediate beneficial effects towards front-end efficiency.
The utilisation of statistics by management was a fundamental tool in the improvements relating to customer flow management, significantly increasing staff productivity and consequentially reducing waiting times. Prior to the installation of the system the efforts of hard workers would go unnoticed, now they could be recognised as being valuable members of the team and thus be rewarded through the statistics generated.
The data obtained via PCQMS™ could also help management hire more or less staff at times of the year which would see visitor numbers rise and fall.
The increase in efficiency and productivity significantly improved relations between the staff and patients. The more relaxed staff had become due to the system the more accommodating they were to visitors, in turn making their experience more enjoyable than prior to the systems implementation.
The combined benefits produced through Lonsto’s® system at Chase Farm Phlebotomy have transformed the department with the advantages set to continue well into the future, Mrs. Williams’s sums up,
“It was a small investment which yielded outstanding results, and that’s all we ever wanted.”
With Lonsto’s® Queue Management System (Q.M.S)™ Chase Farm Phlebotomy improved:
- The organised flow of visitors within the department
- The queuing environment
- Staff satisfaction levels
- Visitor contentment through an organised queuing process
- Staff productivity and efficiency levels
- Resource distribution– the reallocation of staff when demand dictated (made possible through data analysis)
An animated case study is also available on our new Interactive CD accompanied by our 1st Edition Newsletter 'The Cover Story'. So don't wait around and sign up today for a new queuing experince!
