"Manage my care issues"

Dear pyxisbn96,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience using Manage My Care and the challenges you have encountered when managing your child’s appointments at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

I appreciate that for regional and remote families, attending hospital appointments can require significant planning around travel, accommodation, work and family commitments. I can understand how frustrating it must be to know that an appointment has been scheduled but not be able to see the details in Manage My Care until 30 days beforehand, particularly when you are trying to coordinate multiple appointments.

Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group (FSFHG) currently makes appointments visible in Manage My Care 30 days prior to the appointment date. This timeframe was agreed across WA Health when Manage My Care was first introduced and aligns with when appointment letters are issued.

One of the reasons FSFHG has maintained this timeframe is the number of appointments that need to be rescheduled due to changes in clinician availability. Making appointments visible earlier can mean patients and carers receive several notifications if an appointment changes, which we recognise can also be confusing and concerning.

However, your feedback highlights the importance of balancing this with the need to give patients and families enough time to plan, particularly those travelling significant distances to access care. We recognise that 30 days may not always provide regional and remote families with the notice they need to make these arrangements.

The differences in appointment visibility across WA Health services have recently been identified by the Manage My Care Working Group, which includes consumer representatives, as an area for further consideration. FSFHG is also engaging with the Department of Health Manage My Care team to understand how other health services are approaching this and what could be improved.

Thank you for highlighting how the current approach has affected your family. Feedback such as yours is important in helping us understand how our processes work in practice for the people using our services and will help inform the work underway in this area.

If you would like to discuss your experience further, you are also welcome to contact our Consumer Liaison Service via FSHFeedback@health.wa.gov.au. The team can assist if there are specific concerns regarding your child’s appointments that you would like us to look into.

Thank you again for sharing your experience with us.

Kind regards,

Luke Dix

Executive Director

Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group