The Customer
Ziekenhuis Geel is a regional hospital offering a wide range of services. The hospital has nearly 300 accredited beds, several high-tech operating rooms, and numerous consultation spaces. Nearly 900 staff members and 100 specialist physicians work daily to provide patients with the best possible care, with a strong focus on communication and information.
The Challenge
A key challenge for hospitals today is ensuring that there is enough time for core tasks—patient care—and that excessive time is not lost on administrative tasks. At Ziekenhuis Geel, in particular, there was a time-consuming process of manually transferring data from the appointment system to the HiX digital patient record. Since these applications could not integrate, a significant amount of repetitive work was required to update appointments daily.
The Solution
Robonext developed a UiPath RPA robot that retrieves new doctor appointments from the appointment system via an Application Programming Interface (API) with which the robot can easily communicate. The UiPath robot then inputs this information into the digital patient record. The software robot logs in through the application’s User Interface, locates the patient, and enters the data via the same User Interface. If the patient cannot be found, the robot will create a new entry. Depending on the situation, the robot can create, modify, or cancel an appointment.
The implemented solution was designed with a strong focus on stability and scalability. For instance, Ziekenhuis Geel can add a new doctor to the system by simply updating a configuration file, without needing any modifications to the robot itself. Additionally, extensive logging and robust exception handling are essential components of this solution.
The Results
This automation solution reduces the administrative workload. Together, the three involved secretarial departments save up to 4 hours daily, freeing up time for more direct patient contact as the previous tasks were often perceived as tedious and unproductive.
In the words of Thierry Palmans, Director of Administration and Finance: “We embarked on this project with the aim of giving our staff more time for meaningful and essential work. Even our own IT team was initially skeptical, but in the end, a reliable and stable system has been delivered that proves its value every day. We continue to look for other processes that we can automate in the same way.”