Patients or parents can also receive a text message when it is their turn to collect medication. The service is part of a new in-house developed application called Saffara, which is directly connected with a patient’s electronic medical record system – ensuring confidentiality, efficiency and saving time.
Chief Operating Officer, Morag Gates said, “With over 47 clinics and services, there has been a significant increase in the number of patients we care for at the OPC. This can average to nearly 2,000 patients per week. Improving our patients’ experience is vitally important to us, so we increased the number of pharmacies to four. Patients can now get their prescriptions from the same floor as where they receive care from their doctors. Coupled with the launch of Saffara, we have drastically reduced wait times at the pharmacy by nearly 75 per cent!”
Anish Nicholas Patel, Operations Manager from Sidra Medicine’s Pharmacy Department said, “Our patients’ needs and comfort are always top of mind. These initiatives have reduced wait times from up to 45-50 minutes to just 10-12 minutes. The satellite pharmacy on the fourth floor has won the praise of many of our pregnant patients who now don’t have to wait at the general pharmacy on the ground floor.”
The Saffara app has also allowed for patients to comfortably wait in the café or from home for their medications to be prepared or refilled – all without the stress of having to worry that they may miss their turn.
“As Sidra expands its services, we have a firm commitment to ensuring that we listen to our patients concerns and the feedback of our staff. This allows us to continually put in place measures to ensure that we provide safe, patient and family focused care for the women and children of Qatar. The additional pharmacies have made a huge difference to the experience of our patients. I am immensely pleased and proud of our staff and their collaborative efforts to improve the care of our patients. And a special mention to the brains behind Saffara, Dr. Ben Lee and the Project Imagine team who brought it to life. Together, we have been able to showcase how teamwork, care and innovation can transform lives,” concluded Ms. Gates.