Central intake and patient point of contact are critical strategies, for both the HA and Ministry, focusing on improving patient care as it pertains to orthopedic surgical services. Central Intake has been successfully developed and implemented across the province and within the Interior Health area. A proposal presented to and approved for funding by the VJHPS highlighted the benefits of learning more about developing this strategy at VJH.
Dr. Paul Dooley, orthopedic surgeon and Activity Lead, shared “Without Facility Engagement funding, it would have been much more difficult to get the key players involved in the project. The first meeting set the stage for our surgeons to see how it would work and they heard about the benefits, which relieved their fears. I told them we would get the assistance to get it done. After that, the group was interested in proceeding.”
In the fall of 2018, a new VJHPS activity kicked off with an engagement between critical players from Kamloops, Kelowna and Vernon hospitals. Guests shared their experiences in adopting a successful Central Intake program.
Their first goal was to develop a framework which would support the creation of a central intake mechanism for patients with orthopedic issues. Also, it was essential to understand how a central intake would benefit local patients, family physicians, orthopedic surgeons, and the Health Authority. The second critically important goal was to pinpoint potential pitfalls in the process from those who had already successfully instituted a central intake.
Planning continued through the winter of 2019, and a project manager with previous central intake experience was hired. The Central Intake system is expected to go live in the fall of 2019.
Actions and Outcomes
“The benefits we will see include; a single point of contact for family and referring physicians seeing the same patient; and patients being effectively triaged by VJH surgeons to the appropriate surgeon or professional. From the Ministry of Health perspective, the new central intake system will provide two critical results. Firstly, it will give us real-time data regarding the wait time for a patient to be seen by a specialist and secondly bring down the referral wait time”, highlighted Dr. Dooley.