Centralized vaccine booking resulted in obvious issues
By Medicine Hat News Opinion on February 26, 2021.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade The fiasco with about 230,000 Albertans trying to book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine illustrates why one central system for the whole province is perhaps not the best plan. On Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. the HealthLink phone line was open for these calls and there was the option of an online booking system. Even if half the people seeking an appointment used the phone, and the others the website, there was still going to be more than 100,000 people on each system. The planning that took place was obviously not adequate. It emerged Thursday that there is technology that could have been acquired for between $30,000 and $100,000 that would have prevented glitches. Acknowledging that some over the age of 75 would need a phone number to call was good call by the government, and the 811 number was easy to remember. There was no way though to spread those calls out, and understandably many wanted to get in immediately. If you have been staying home for nearly a year trying to protect yourself, you want that vaccine as soon as possible. Perhaps a suitable way to spread the load of calls would have been the “zone” system. Alberta Health Services is well known for its health zones. A separate number to call for each zone would have helped. Another option would have been to have people whose last names began with the first five letters of the alphabet call on Wednesday, the next on Thursday, etc. It is important to remember that 811 is also the number people call if they have a health issue they need to talk with a nurse about. They too could not reach HealthLink as the system collapsed. It is not as though there was not a trial run about what was likely to happen. Without any public announcement AHS changed all local lab appointments to a central system on Feb. 16. The News heard from frustrated seniors who struggled for hours to get through to Edmonton on the phone to book a lab appointment in Medicine Hat. The online booking system was also not working initially. There seems to be a movement to centralize everything. There are some advantages for the government collecting data because it is one computer system. But it is proving to be frustrating and remote for the patients though and patients should be at the centre of these decisions. Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or call her at 403-528-8635. 13-12
