The outpatient check-in process at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) differs to the way things were done at Princess Margaret Hospital.
PCH has introduced electronic self check-in kiosks for outpatient appointments similar to those in airports. The kiosks are located inside the main and northern entrances to PCH as well as outside some specialist clinics on levels 1, 2 and 4.
To check-in:
- Scan the bar code on your child’s appointment letter or swipe their Medicare card.
- Confirm the patient’s details through a series of steps.
- You will receive a ticket and be directed to your clinic waiting area where you can confirm your arrival with the clinic clerks. TV screens are located in clinic waiting areas and will display your ticket number when the doctor or nurse is ready to see you.
If your clinic is delayed, you can choose to receive an SMS to notify you when it is time to return to the clinic waiting area.
There may be several clinics running at the same time so the ticket numbers may not be called in order. This does not mean that you have missed your appointment.
Something that seems to be happening recurrently at present is when families are unable to attend their scheduled diabetes clinic visit they request to be rescheduled sooner than the next allocated appointment in three months’ time.
“This is usually not possible due to the way the appointment schedule is organised and the fact that most clinics are already at capacity and there is no scope for overbooking,” PCH acting clinical nurse consultant/diabetes educator Elizabeth Broad said.
“It is important for families to be aware of the limitations of our availability and the need to ensure that their scripts are done in advance of them running out at clinic visits as we are unable to provide these out of clinic.
“If necessary, scripts and HbA1c will need to be organised at the patient’s GP if clinic attendance is not possible as scheduled.
“We recognise that this is challenging for families but it is beyond our capacity to do otherwise at this time.”