Booking system could be introduced at Stamford Day Treatment Unit to manage patient demand

North West Anglia NHS Trust has said it’s considering introducing a booking system at Stamford Day Treatment Unit in an attempt to reduce queues and waiting times.

The unit was opened in December last year at a cost of about £23 million and specialises in dermatology, plastics, urology, pain management and orthopaedics.

Under the plans, a direct booking system would be developed to allow patients to select a time and remove the need to queue.

At a Lincolnshire County Council health scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday, October 14, Joel Harrison,chief finance officer from the trust, explained that a booking system would help to manage first thing in the morning when there are the most calls.

He added: “What the booking system would allow people to do is to book into a slot, knowing they’ve got a slot and therefore we would be able to better balance the demand with the capacity, accepting we might see a reduction in the overall capacity initially.

“It would also enable us to better understand where we would need to put on additional capacity, because at the moment, we’ve got two limiting factors – number one staff, but number two, the physical space in which we can operate within.

“If we can use a booking system to help balance things out, we can actually put on additional capacity as and when we need and fundamentally, it’s a better experience for patients.”

During the meeting, Coun Kelham Cooke (Conservative – Stamford East) raised concerns about the lack of parking at the site.

He added: “For people accessing that site, there are significant challenges with parking which is adding additional pressure to local residents that live around that area.”

In response, Mr Harrison said: “The long-term ambition would be to increase the car parking capacity on the site.

“That requires two things to happen – the completion of the development works and also does require planning permission which is obviously outside the gift of the trust’s capacity.

“But our ambition is to increase the car parking on the site to reduce the reliance upon the wider local population as well.”