Hawke's Bay technology start-up providing self-check in services at health centres

The kiosks allow patients to self-check-in at the Napier Health Centre. Photo / Supplied

Hawke's Bay DHB is one of four district health boards which have introduced digital self-check-in services from Hawke's Bay start-up company Florence.

Two kiosks have been trialled for four months at the Napier Health Centre on Wellesley Rd.

The trial is "going really well so far", business development manager at Florence Michael Greenstein said.

The self-check-in kiosks allow patients to check in to an appointment by entering their NHI number then verifying their identity with their birth date.

The kiosk checks them in for their appointment and can also ask questions a receptionist may ask such as whether they want to quit smoking or if they want to change their GP.

"It's about modernising a clinic's operation and maximising how the clinic runs in terms of time and resources, to benefit both staff and the public," Greenstein said.

"They relieve the receptionist of repetitive tasks so they can spend more time tending to patient care. The kiosks empower the patient and greatly reduce the waiting time to check-in."

Greenstein said soon the system will roll out barcodes through text which can be scanned in at the kiosk.

Once the DHB is satisfied with the results the company plans to install the technology at Hawke's Bay Hospital and other DHB facilities, Greenstein said.

"It is great to be able to trial the technology in our backyard."

Canterbury, Auckland and Nelson/Marlborough are the three other DHBs trialling the technology.

"As our population ages we will see increased pressure on services, but without necessarily increased resources. This is where technology such as Florence can assist with processing, efficiency and workflow," Greenstein said.

The self-service check-in is the first step in Florence's patient flow improvement solutions.

The company is trialling a patient tracking solution at Greenlane Clinical Centre in Auckland.

The system collects timestamps of when a patient arrived, how long they waited, how long the first clinic encounter took and how long the appointment took. The data is made available in real-time to the staff so adjustments can be made to improve the time it takes for patients to complete an appointment, Greenstein said.

The data can also be distributed to the patient through phones or screens, providing wait times and queuing information.

"The goal [of this system] is to create virtual queuing where a patient doesn't have to look at the back of a person's neck but can wait anywhere near the facility and be called to the clinic when the clinical staff is ready for their visit," Greenstein said.

Florence started in April 2018 and is the health branch of Hawke's Bay based global technology company Fingermark, artificial intelligence software designers and manufacturers who have produced touch screen kiosks for the likes of KFC.