The wait at polyclinics used to be a real bitch.
But it has improved markedly — 4.6 per cent customer satisfaction points, according to the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore. In more concrete terms, from three hours it now takes around two.
How did the polyclinics and specialised healthcare sub-sectors achieve this feat? This was their strategy, according to this special report by Today's Khoo Bee Khim.
1. Self-service kiosks. "To reduce the need to queue at the counters at SingHealth polyclinics, self-service kiosks are available for registering, and making... appointments."
2. Health monitoring stations. "While waiting to consult the doctors, patients can also make use of the time to have their height, weight and blood pressure taken by trained staff at health monitoring stations."
3. Express Repeat Service. "It issues a separate queue number for regular, repeat patients who don’t require the pharmacist’s counselling."
4. Home and store delivery. "Another time-saving initiative from SingHealth is the delivery of regular, repeat medication to the patient’s home for a nominal fee. At SGH, eligible patients can also pay a small fee to have medication sent to their nearest Unity or Watsons outlet for a more convenient collection."
5. Self-payment kiosks. "To shorten the queue for making payment, the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP), which runs nine polyclinics, has implemented self-payment kiosks that accept NETS, NETS Flashpay, NETS Cash Card and EZ-Link."
Photo by Sengkang via WikiCommons
The wait at polyclinics used to be a real bitch.
But it has improved markedly — 4.6 per cent customer satisfaction points, according to the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore. In more concrete terms, from three hours it now takes around two.
How did the polyclinics and specialised healthcare sub-sectors achieve this feat? This was their strategy, according to this special report by Today's Khoo Bee Khim.
1. Self-service kiosks. "To reduce the need to queue at the counters at SingHealth polyclinics, self-service kiosks are available for registering, and making... appointments."
2. Health monitoring stations. "While waiting to consult the doctors, patients can also make use of the time to have their height, weight and blood pressure taken by trained staff at health monitoring stations."
3. Express Repeat Service. "It issues a separate queue number for regular, repeat patients who don’t require the pharmacist’s counselling."
4. Home and store delivery. "Another time-saving initiative from SingHealth is the delivery of regular, repeat medication to the patient’s home for a nominal fee. At SGH, eligible patients can also pay a small fee to have medication sent to their nearest Unity or Watsons outlet for a more convenient collection."
5. Self-payment kiosks. "To shorten the queue for making payment, the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP), which runs nine polyclinics, has implemented self-payment kiosks that accept NETS, NETS Flashpay, NETS Cash Card and EZ-Link."
Photo by Sengkang via WikiCommons