"Wait time at the hand clinic"

I have been coming to the Sydney Hospital for over three months for follow up drs appointments and wound dressing changes. During my experiences I have been extremely frustrated and shocked at the extremely long wait times. The longest I have waited was three and a half hours during which I missed the plastic surgeon that I was meant to meet.

I am aware that wait times are long, that emergencies take priority, that the Drs and nurses are busy. But to consistently have three hour wait times I feel is crazy, I am sure it can be done another way. I would like to offer an outsiders perspective on the issues and offer potential solutions.

Wait times results in unnecessary stresses and frustrations to patients and staff. Patients start to get angry and frustrated at reception staff and reception staff to get frustration with patients.

The display showing wait times on the TV in the waiting area, is not accurate and it doesn't allow me to see where I am in the waiting process or have any reasonable time frames on my day.

I believe patients and carers don't feel their time is valued. Time needs to take time off from work to travel to and attend appointment times, this also applies to carers. This causes potential issues at work, as employees can find it difficult to understand how a drs appointment can take up to three hours waiting time. My employer is reasonable of my situation, but I am sure there are employers who are not so understanding. This causes stress on an already stressful situation.

I had a situation that I knew I was going to be late so I called the hospital. When I arrived I waited two and a half hours and missed the plastic surgeon I was appointed to see.

I have also attended the hospital clinic to have my dressing changed which is a stressful and emotional situation to just see the wound unbandaged. To wait three hours to have a dressing changed becomes extremely frustrating especially when it is only 15mins to have the dressing changed.

Suggestions to manage wait times:

It would be great to be able to manage people's expectations but giving them an idea of their wait time, how many people are in front of them.

This can be done using the following systems:

- A number system (displayed on the screen)

- App (track your position)

This means patients can go outside and wait or get lunch or go to the park and come back closer to their appointment time. This would eliminate frustrations and allow patients to know how long their wait time.

It would also be great to be informed the morning of or the day before to know if that appointment day is extremely busy or a smooth day. Again this gives a realistic gauge of the day and manages expectations.

Remote check in - It would also be great if patients could check in on the way to the hospital so they could keep their position in the queue. I had a situation where I called to say I would be late to one of my appointments yet my wait time started when I arrived to the hospital (2.5hrs of wait time, and I missed the surgeon). I believe remote check in could eliminate frustrations and create a better system.

While I am waiting it would be good to be able to be greeted by a nurse at my appointment time who could start the process of removing my bandages while I wait for the Dr or Surgeon to see me. This would help with frustrations and also managing the flow of patients in the wait room.

I also had an experience of needed to wait 5 hours for my pharmacy to prepare my medications on the day of my discharge. This was extremely frustrating, especially after 8days in hospital to wait 5hours solely for medication before I could leave.

The level of care from nurses I have received during my time at the Sydney Hospital has been of a high standard. It is a shame that the wait times and processes seem to be creating a negative experience to patients and carers. This is intended to offer some insight from a patients perspective to help improve the patients overall experience.

Thank you