DOHA: Despite increasing complaints about the triaging system being introduced at health centres, the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has claimed that the system has helped significantly reduce patients’ waiting time.
At least 54 percent of patients who visited health centres have been able to see a doctor within 30 minutes. Also 39 percent of patients have seen a doctor within 30 to 90 minutes. And these patients included those who required urgent care and routine health issues, Dr Mariam Abdelmalik, Managing Director, PHCC, told a press conference yesterday.
The triaging system is to reach a quick evaluation of every patient at health centres to identify those who should be given priority to be referred to doctors after their health condition has been assessed and classified.
Data analysis was based on information gathered in January and February in Dhayen, Al Gharafa, Omar bin Al Khatab and West Bay health centres that have introduced ‘Cerner’ and the new appointment system together with the triaging system. The number of patients classified according to this system was 24,866. The number of patients who were not able to see the doctor during the specified time was 32 and the number of patients who were able to see the doctor within four to six hours was 494. This was due to their routine cases such as pre-marital, medical and Medical Commission tests and those where a pre-booked appointment through 107 Hayyak was required.
“Before the introduction of the triaging system in health centres, there were varied waiting times that could sometimes be too long. In the old system, priority to see the doctor was on the basis of first-come first-serve regardless of the urgency.
“ With the introduction of this service, patients with more urgent and critical needs are given priority,” said Dr Abdelmalik.
The analysis of data gathered from ‘Patient Satisfaction Forms’ at health centres have indicated that 91 percent of patients said they were happy with the triage system or that it was good or excellent.
“We consider the survey as essential part of our work, therefore statistical data and patient and staff feedback were collated and assessed before and after the experimental procedure and changes to improve the system had been identified. Evaluation continues,” said Dr Abdelmalik.
However, due to increasing number of complaints, PHCC is conducting another survey to gauge the level of awareness of the new system, what people think of it and how often they use the 107 hotline.
“We believe that a great number of patients insist on coming to health centres to receive any medical service without booking any appointments that could save them a lot of time, particularly if their health condition doesn’t require immediate medical attention. This shows how important is to raise awareness of this system,” said Dr Abdelmalik.
The Peninsula
