Reference no: EM133179234

Hospital in chaos over New Booking System

Staff at Austin Health, one of Melbourne's largest hospital networks say a new computerized booking system has wreaked havoc over the past year, causing untold distress for vulnerable people and putting lives at risk.

Senior Austin Health employees have told Fairfax Media that the new Patient Choice Booking service at the Austin Hospital and Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre has caused scores of patients to miss crucial appointments with specialists responsible for their care.This included seriously ill patients, such as organ transplant recipients, cancer patients and those with infectious diseases such as TB and HIV who needed to be seen at particular times to receive continuing tests, medications and other treatment.

When the system was introduced last May, hospital management cancelled about 49,000 future patient bookings with specialist doctors and sent these patients letters advising them of the cancellations and a new booking system.Under the new regime, patients would receive a letter offering them an appointment around the time that they were previously due to come in.When they received this letter of offer, they were told to call the hospital if they wanted to negotiate a different time. The letter, which was allegedly only written in English, said patients who needed an interpreter should call to organize one.

Unlike the old system where patients could make bookings up to two years in advance, the new system was meant to provide patients with greater flexibility and reduce the number of patients cancelling, rescheduling or not showing up. But according to angry staff, the system has been a ''complete disaster'', with many patients either not receiving their letters or not understanding them. This has allegedly caused scores of patients to not attend their appointments or show up at the wrong time.

One hospital source said the people most likely to be lost in the system were elderly patients and those who did not speak English, because they did not understand the letters sent to them.

Leaked documents also revealed:

• The system failed to account for some specialists' annual leave and public holidays, causing patients to show up to unstaffed clinics.
• Confused patients waited longer than 40 minutes on the phone to get through to overwhelmed hospital staff before being hung up on.
• The health service has received so many complaints; it stopped sending them to the patient complaints department.
• People who have travelled to the hospitals on wrong dates are being compensated for their costs.

But Austin Health spokeswoman Taryn Sheehy said although there had been some technical issues, the allegation that patients may have been harmed was ''extraordinary and completely untrue''.

''Despite an extensive testing period, there were a number of technical issues that led to the system not performing as specified during the first few months of implementation in 2013. This disrupted some services and resulted in confusion for some patients. None of these issues compromised patient safety or delayed any urgent surgical procedures,'' she said.

''We have apologized to patients and their families for the confusion and upset that was caused. Technical issues with the software have been resolved and the system is now able to be refined as required.''

Ms Sheehy said while the system was superior to the previous one and had reduced the rate at which patients fail to attend appointments by 27 per cent this year, ''a comprehensive external review of the system and its implementation, that has involved staff and patients, is nearing completion. This will assist in determining if further enhancements are required.''

(The real case study adapted from Sydney Morning Herald, April, 2014)

In relation to Case Scenario above, please answer the following questions (you can make reasonable assumptions for information not included in case study).

1. Identify (system name and type) the administration systemdiscussed in Austin Health.
2. What benefits the above-mentioned system could provide to Austin Health if implemented in a proper manner?
3. Identifykey requirements or considerations that Austin Healthshould have identified before implementation of the new system.
4. What implementation strategyhas been adopted by the AustinHealth management in above case?
5. What would have been the ideal implementation strategy according to you in thecase of Austin Health?Justify your answer.
6. In your observation, what went wrong in Austin Health's case? Do you think the employees did not participate in the implementation process or management should have allocated more time or it's just a technical failure? Justify your answer.
7. What is contingency management? Discuss what Austin Health management should have planned in first place to mitigate (reduce or lessen) the impact of risks.
8. To complete system implementation safely and effectively, what relevant legislative and organizational policies the management of Austin Health should have in place?
9. How do employees react when an organization fails to implement a newly planned administration system into the workplace?
10. What role should the management play when they introduce a major change to their organization?  List key issues they should keep in mind (consider Austin Health scenario as above).