Uipath And Swiftqueue Partner To Drive Digital Innovation In Healthcare | e3zine – E-3 Magazine International

The partnership will see Uipath provide its unattended automation solution to bridge Swiftqueue’s patient engagement system with the multiple data storing systems each hospital uses.

To date, the Swiftqueue platform has been used in Ireland, UK, US, and Canada for scheduling patients for multiple outpatient and diagnostic clinic appointments including millions of blood tests in hospitals and community settings. By using unattended software robots, the solution is now functional across all hospitals, national healthcare trusts and organisations, diagnostic clinics and specialty departments, and plans are underway to make it available at a global level as well.

How the Uipath/Swiftqueue partnership works

Software robots log into all the hospital record systems, verify and pull correct patient data and available slots across every medical specialty into the scheduling platform. The patient is granted access to a personal account where all appointment details for the patient and their family can be stored and reviewed.

If the patient cannot attend an appointment, they can reschedule for a more suitable time. With robots feeding this information back into hospital back-end systems this instantly frees up a slot to be reused by another patient.

Once the appointment booking process is complete, robots proceed to further automate reporting, aggregate data and communicate key reporting widely in multiple formats to hospitals and healthcare organisations.

Patients’ flexibility to book and amend their own appointments is still under strict control by clinicians and administrators to ensure clinic and clinician rules for the patient’s good health are observed.

The digital solution will make huge savings in many countries where hospital appointments are still made by post and patients are only able to reschedule by phone. In Ireland, for example, hospitals spend EUR €2.25 for each appointment while a digitalised approach will only amount to EUR €0.45.

Hospital statistics show that for 40 percent of the patients who receive the appointment times via post, the proposed time will not suit them. While 15 percent of them change their plans and attend the medical appointment, 85 percent need to call the hospital for rescheduling.

With the Coronavirus pandemic reprioritising medical concerns, it is estimated that the UK will have a staggering backlog of 12 million cancelled appointments that will need to be processed quickly. Greater efficiency will be therefore required for managing patients’ needs in a post COVID-19 world, and the use of the automated Swiftqueue platform for millions of appointment allocations and reallocations, after cancelations, will support healthcare staff in yet another unprecedented activity peak.