Gold Coast Health uses automation to deliver real-time patient care

Meeting the need for person-centered healthcare

As the demand for person-centered healthcare continues to grow, Gold Coast Health is committed to transforming the way patient care is delivered by reducing time-consuming manual processes.

Gold Coast Health recognized an opportunity to optimize both clinical and administrative workflows to support its digital transformation strategy, which aims to enhance efficiencies, improve authorized access to critical information, and enable healthcare professionals to dedicate more time to patients.

The organization’s goal is to deliver world-class care, maximize the value of healthcare resources, and drive sustainable, future-focused innovation.

Healthcare systems often struggle with limited resources due to the rising demand for services, an aging population and the increasing complexity of patient care. By automating repetitive administrative tasks, such as transferring data between referrals, wait lists and appointments, our health service can increase operational efficiency and better allocate resources, ultimately improving patient outcomes.”

Kirsten Hinze, Senior Director, Digital Experience, Gold Coast Health

Taking a new approach to patient management

Gold Coast Health began automating its first administrative processes using the UiPath Platform in 2022. The initial solution focused on classifying outpatient appointments within a queue management system, which previously involved intensive manual data entry. Based on the success of this automation, Gold Coast Health expanded the UiPath solutions to help unify multiple disconnected platforms and consolidate patient information, reducing the number of manual systems health workers needed to access.

Through UiPath solutions, healthcare workers were able to more quickly and easily review patient information, confirm appointments, and send SMS notifications directly within the secure platform. These improvements also meant that patient bookings could be managed through real-time waiting lists.

By streamlining appointment confirmations, the process reduced staff time spent on the phone, resulting in shorter wait times and a decrease in call abandonment rates. This supported Gold Coast Health’s objective of enhancing patient care and demonstrated how back-office innovation could improve front-line healthcare delivery.

The UiPath solutions have enabled Gold Coast Health to ‘connect the unconnectable’ where integration is not possible, bringing together multiple patient management systems data into streamlined workflows that have saved staff time and enhanced the patient experience.”

Kirsten Hinze, Senior Director, Digital Experience, Gold Coast Health

Setting a new standard for healthcare delivery

Gold Coast Health has now successfully automated over 20 processes, ranging from simple 10-step operations to complex 300-step workflows across multiple systems. This initiative has resulted in over 40,000 hours being redirected to patient care annually, which has also improved the employee experience for healthcare workers.

The low-code UiPath Platform has made it easy for Gold Coast Health’s technical, and non-technical teams to quickly design, deploy, and scale automation across clinical and operative functions, which is streamlining processes and reducing system duplication. The platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate with existing systems has ensured minimal disruption, while its focus on security, compliance, and governance addresses Gold Coast Health’s need for safe and reliable automation solutions. Additionally, the scalability, robust ecosystem, and premium UiPath support has helped Gold Coast Health accelerate its digital transformation and maximize operational efficiency.

Gold Coast Health’s clinical photography management is one area that has already benefited from these new efficiencies. The automation has reduced image accessibility time in the patient’s medical record from 19 hours to just 15 minutes. The automation operates 24/7, reducing the risk of administrative delays in clinical care, and captures additional, vital data such as clinician identity, time of capture, and photo details to further enhance the accuracy of medical records. This real-time access to clinical images has significantly enhanced patient care, particularly during after-hours and on weekends.

The referrals process, a critical area that involves handling over 180,000 patient referrals each year, has also been improved through automation. By automating the entry of referral information across multiple systems, Gold Coast Health aims to reduce appointment calls by 1–2 days, which is important when patients and carers are waiting to hear from the hospital.

Gold Coast Health credits its success to the right combination of technology and the multi-disciplinary team of developers, testers, and clinicians involved in the organization’s digital transformation journey.

The UiPath Platform is fit-for-purpose within our organization and uses the same systems that our staff do, and can scale far beyond what we would be able to achieve with manual processes. It allows us to securely build out new technologies such as AI, communications mining and intelligent document processing whilst ensuring patient confidentiality, local data residency, and meeting regulatory compliance.”

Kirsten Hinze, Senior Director, Digital Experience, Gold Coast Health