
(Photo supplied: Interior Health)
The Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater is the first site within the Interior Health Authority to launch a trial, allowing patients to self-book X-Ray appointments online.
Kim Perris, the Thompson Cariboo Director of Medical Imaging with Interior Health says patients will first need to create a MyHealthPortal profile.
“Once they do that, they just have to click on schedule appointments or virtual visit tab and then it will walk them through the steps where they can select only one site.”
While Clearwater is currently the only site within the health authority trialing the online booking system, Perris notes they hope to eventually expand it to other sites in the region.
“The easiest thing to do was to trial it at a site that only had one type of appointment versus a site that had CT, MRI, and Ultrasound; Clearwater only has X-Ray and it is a small site, so it makes things a little bit easier for us to track,” she said.
“We want to collect enough data to really be able to look at it all to determine if it was worthwhile and to determine any problems that we have so that we can iron things out.”
One issue they have noticed with the online booking system, as Perris explains, is that some people have mistakenly booked an appointment in Clearwater, even though they do not live there.
“Let’s say they are from Penticton, and they go in and see the self-scheduling tab, so they have clicked on it, and not realizing it’s actually for Clearwater,” she said. “So we have Clearwater listed multiple times on the MyHealthPortal pages through the booking process to try and highlight that it is Clearwater only.”
Additionally, Perris says as of November 1, patients will no longer be able to book X-ray appointments over the phone in Clearwater.
“But we are still allowing patients to walk in. So if the patient comes in and they don’t have a computer or they don’t have a MyHealthPortal profile or if they don’t want an account, they will still be able to bring in their requisition, in hand, and we will still be able to do them on a walk-in basis as well.”
The walk-in clinic in Clearwater is open from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
All Holter and ECG exams will continue to be booked with patients by phone.