Plan for centralized booking service in MUHC is raising concerns

 
KAREN SEIDMAN
While centralized booking is standard procedure in the French hospitals, it has not been the way clinical appointments and surgeries have been booked on the English side, where each doctor or group of doctors books appointments through its own secretaries.
But that’s about to change. The McGill University Health Center will be introducing a centralized booking service when its super-hospital in Notre Dame de Grâce is completed in two years, and the new system will apply to all of the MUHC institutions.
And while some are hopeful the system will be more efficient, others are nervous about what it will mean to patient care.
“Secretaries are worried they will lose control of the clinics,” said one physician from the Montreal General who didn’t want to be named. “They know when they can double or triple book. They know when it’s a cancer consultation they have to make room for an appointment. They understand the system.”
Ian Popple, communications coordinator for the MUHC, said the system is aiming to be more efficient, and “efficiency should be good for the institution and patients.”
Read more: The Gazette