Appointment zen - shaping demand and matching capacity.
BACKGROUND
Ten years of experience with hundreds of general practices in the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives program has provided many lessons for improving practice appointment systems.


OBJECTIVE
In this article, we describe how general practitioners can, by actively managing our appointment systems, reduce waiting times and delays, improve patient care, improve our quality of life and improve practice financial viability.


CONCLUSIONS
Demand is finite and predictable. We can shape our demand by influencing when, why and for whom people make appointments. We can change our daily appointment numbers and our team capacity to match our reshaped demand. Contingency plans for expected and unexpected drops in capacity can prevent appointment backlogs. Embedding and monitoring our demand and capacity management can help ensure smooth flow of patients through the practice with good care and improved staff and patient satisfaction.
MBBS, MMedSci (ClinEpid), FRACGP, is Chair, Expert Reference Panel on Access, The Australian Primary Care Collaborative, The Improvement Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia, a general practitioner, Katoomba, and Conjoint Senior Lecturer, The Fairfield General Practice Unit, NSW.
Andrew
A
Knight
Tony
T
Lembke
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