Health body seeks to reduce waiting time at hospitals

The chance to interact with health care professionals about treatment procedures and medical diagnoses was the best feature about hospitals across the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the results of a survey conducted by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) revealed Saturday waiting times were the worst. The patient satisfaction survey, which interviewed 34,200 patients in 37 hospitals in the emirate, was conducted by HAAD to monitor health care quality in hospitals, as well as provide information to patients about their choice of health care organisations. Hospitals in Al Ain recorded the greatest patient satisfaction among inpatients and outpatients, closely followed by facilities in Abu Dhabi city. However, some residents who spoke to Gulf News said the quality of health care in the emirate still had to be improved considerably, especially in terms of waiting times, diagnosis accuracy, and opportunity for interaction with health care professionals. "The problem is not just that you have to wait almost two hours to see a doctor whether you have an appointment or not, but diagnoses are often wrong. In fact, even with simple conditions like food poisoning, doctors don't make the effort to check thoroughly," said Khalid Al Hammadi, 33, an Emirati administrative executive. "In addition, when I take my three-year-old daughter to the hospital, I find that she receives emergency medical attention only when she is severely sick. When she is running a mild fever, the case is never treated as seriously and we have to wait a long time to see a doctor," he added. Al Hammadi said waiting time was usually longer than two hours even with a prior appointment. "This is why I still prefer to travel abroad, whenever possible, for medical treatment," he said. Another Egyptian resident in her sixties, N Mahmoud, also disagreed with the results of the HAAD survey, and said doctors were most often not available for consultation. "At most inpatient facilities, doctors are so busy that only nurses are available for patients to speak to. In addition, it is also terribly hard to consult the same doctor a second time, which means that no one health care professional can be held accountable for inpatient treatment," Mahmoud claimed. The resident, who has been living in the UAE for more than 30 years, said there was a definite need to increase the number of hospitals and health care professionals in the emirate, especifically those dealing with chronic conditions like diabetes. "Not only would this reduce waiting time but it would also reduce the pressure on medical staff, who are often very pressurised," she added. Waiting time was also the worst-rated component according to the HAAD study, as was the smoothness of discharge procedures at inpatient hospitals. Commenting on this issue, Tammy Donnelly, director of corporate performance and operations at HAAD, told Gulf News the authority was working to reduce waiting times via the health care insurance coverage. "The 98 per cent health care insurance coverage rate in the emirate has enabled HAAD to develop a detailed database of e-claims. This, in turn, allows us to identify gaps in health care services, and also enables health care facilities to fill them, therefore reducing waiting times and enhancing services," Donnelly said. She added HAAD had recently drawn up a health care capacity masterplan that identified capacity gaps and gaps in medical specialities that needed to be filled by health care facilities. "In addition, almost a third of hospitals have already contacted us since the results of the patient satisfaction survey were released to them a week ago, looking for ways to improve their services and benchmark their facilities," Donnelly said. The corporate performance and operations director also said HAAD planned to conduct the patient satisfaction survey on an annual basis to provide information to patients regarding their choice of health care facility. From / Gulf News