Outpatients now have booking options
We are delighted to share that the Lab Outpatient Improvement Project (LOIP) is complete, and patients now have three options to book appointments in NH labs.
On behalf of the team, we extend heartfelt thank you to every staff member involved in bringing this project to completion. Offering booking options on how patients book lab appointments will continue to have positive impacts and add efficiencies to our processes and flows.
What is the Northern Health (NH) Laboratory (Lab) Outpatient Improvement Project (LOIP) and how do requisitions fit in?
The LOIP is a quality improvement initiative meant to improve lab outpatient services by taking a person and family-centered approach to access and service delivery. The goal is to improve patient access and reduce wait times.
What you need to know and how this impacts you:
Patients can call 1-888-223-1530 to book an appointment.
Patients can also access the lab by:
- Book online (using HealthElife portal).
- Drop in (using NH Check In app available at some locations).
- For patient requiring urgent laboratory services, fax the request directly to the patient local lab, or give requisition to patient, call the lab to inform them of the request and direct patient to go directly to lab and state an urgent request was fax directly to the laboratory.
What is the Regional Contact Centre?
The Regional Contact Centre will support the implementation of a service model of booked appointments by offering a centralized number for patients to call into to book their lab appointments from anywhere to any lab in the North.
The benefits of the solution include:
- Improved patient access for scheduling appointment, decreasing backlog.
- Distributing lab scheduling across multiple sites to improve access and decrease wait times.
In addition to the Regional Contact Centre, NH has introduced new ways for patients to access labs through a blended model of booked and drop-in services (HealthELife and NH Check In (available at some locations).
NH Lab Improvement Project
Regional Contact Centre is part of the NH Lab Outpatient Improvement Project. The purpose of the Lab Outpatient Improvement project is to improve patient access to labs and reduce wait times. This can be achieved by modernizing tools and processes in the lab and enabling staff to work at the top of their scope.