Irish healthcare software companies, Vitro Software and YellowSchedule have announced a new partnership to tackle the growing crisis of hospital waiting lists. The companies will merge their international expertise and experience to create a practical, swift implementation of a long-term solution to address this growing issue in Ireland and the UK with ‘SmartList’.
The benefits of ‘SmartList’ include;
• 25% waiting list reduction
• Reduce the number of no-show appointments (DNA’s) by over 50%
• 25% estimated reduction in patient waiting times
• 75% cost savings of administration overheads
It was recently reported by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) that over 900,000 Irish people are on hospital waiting lists, an increase of 124,000 since 2019. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has warned that the numbers waiting for either treatment or a consultation will soon increase to over one million patients. A long-term sustainable solution is urgently required to help manage waiting lists as numbers continue to rise.
The joint software solution, ‘SmartList’, enables end to end management of waiting lists. The solution can be utilised by hospitals to categorise patients based on clinical priority, and to identity those patients who can be cared for more quickly in the community, following consultant-led care plans. Utilising the ‘SmartList’ solution will lead to a reduction in waiting list sizes, a reduction in waiting times for patients and an improved patient experience during their time on waiting lists. Key to the solution is regular communication and updates for the patient, thereby reducing waiting list anxiety.
Martina Skelly, CEO of YellowSchedule says: “Ireland’s already significant waiting lists have been further increased by Covid-19 and then subsequently by the Cyber Attack earlier this year. The number of people waiting for an appointment and the length of time they are waiting continues to increase. However Ireland has a history of producing world class healthcare software and now has the opportunity to leverage the experience to lead the way on improving waiting list management. This is an issue that touches every single family and both YellowSchedule and Vitro Software share a passion for being part of the solution.
It is estimated, conservatively, that the implementation of ‘SmartList’ will result in an overall reduction of 25% across waiting list numbers, with fewer delays in diagnosis and patient waiting times, and significant healthcare savings, through a reduction in administration overheads and appointment no-shows which are also addressed by the solution.
Dr Ruth Barnes, Director of Commercial Operations for Vitro Software says, “Putting the patient at the heart of the ‘SmartList’ solution was essential to its design. It is critical for patients to be seen by care providers in a timely manner to avoid delayed diagnosis and deterioration of their conditions. We are using our international experience as a provider of Hospital Digital Medical Records and speciality solutions for Breast Screening and Mental Health to provide a software solution to the waiting list challenges Ireland faces. We feel that by Vitro Software working together with Yellow Schedule who are experts in their field will provide a long term solution for the waiting list challenges.
SMARTLIST – Waiting List Reduction and Management
ENDS
As Reported In
Vitro Software
Vitro Software is a leading international healthcare technology company which specialises in providing solutions for Hospitals, Mental Health Facilities and Cancer Screening Services. The deployment of our Digital Medical Record, Vitro, enables healthcare providers to create efficiencies, reduce costs, reduce change management challenges and provide better patient outcomes. Clients benefit from high levels of clinical adoption due to Vitro’s intuitive design, fast implementation times and a fully integrated system. Our clients, located globally, have achieved major gains in clinical and administrative processes, resulting in more time spent on providing patient care. Clients include Calvary Health Care, a group of private and public hospitals across Australia, Bendigo Health, a 650 bed state of the art hospital in Australia, South Pacific Private Hospital Australia's Leading Treatment Centre for addictions, trauma and mental health issues, and BreastScreen Victoria, who provide Breast Cancer screening services to the entire state of Victoria, Australia.
YellowSchedule
YellowSchedule is a specialist healthcare scheduling software company providing off the shelf and bespoke solutions to healthcare scheduling and patient communications challenges. YellowSchedule works with clients to manage and automate complex workflows resulting in significant reductions in administration, increased accuracy, reduced no-shows and increased patient satisfaction. Clients include Novartis who use YellowSchedule to manage patients on clinical drug trials, UC Berkeley for their Student Counselling and Disability Services, the Feinberg School of Medicine and Integra Homecare, the largest provider of home care services in the State of New York. Prompted by the significant challenges presented around visiting in healthcare facilities during Covid-19, YellowSchedule has also provided visitor management solutions for clients included CUMH and SIVUH to enable visitors to self-schedule, complete digital covid screening online and gain fast track entry via the scanning of a QR code on entry. Visit https://www.yellowschedule.com/