St John launches live dashboard for urgent care wait times

A live dashboard is now available to provide information on wait times for St John Urgent Care centres in the Perth Metro area.

Patients can check the St John Health website to understand how long they are likely to wait to be seen by a doctor before arriving at the centre.

A collaboration across St John. teams, the dashboard helps customers judge whether it would be easier to go to their local urgent care centre, or one a couple of suburbs over, or as a last resort – the emergency department.

It will also help ease pressure on busier centres and redistribute patients across the St John Health network, making it easier for our teams to manage the load.

“Our wait times can vary significantly between centres,” Jamie Stewart, St John WA Medical Director – Community, said.

“I’m delighted that patients will be able to make more informed decisions regarding which of our clinics is the most appropriate for them to attend in their time of need.”

St John WA team members pulled together to deliver this important piece of work.

“A truly collaborative effort, this project has been a few months of focused work,” Tom Hubbard, St John WA’s Head of Customer Experience, said.

“We took the raw data and shaped it into something that is easy to understand and act on.

“We utilise human-centred design principles to ensure the end product meets the needs of our customers, patients, and team members.”

Trista Koproski, SJWA Principal Business Intelligence Analyst, added:

“While the project’s primary goal was to publish wait times online to enhance the urgent care patient experience, it also acted as a foundation for a second solution – an internal-facing urgent care live dashboard.

“The dashboard presents additional relevant data and provides timely metrics to urgent care team members, to inform daily decision-making.”

St John Health Urgent Care centres are designed for unplanned care that cannot wait for a routine appointment but does not require an emergency department.

Urgent care plays a role in reducing pressure on busy emergency departments by supporting patients to access the right level of care in the right setting.

National data shows a significant proportion of emergency department presentations are categorised as Category 4 or 5 presentations.

While many of these patients absolutely require hospital-based care due to complexity or underlying conditions, urgent care services can provide an alternative pathway for a range of lower-acuity injuries and illnesses.

Since opening in 2021, St John WA Urgent Care centres have treated hundreds of thousands of Western Australians and continue to play an increasingly important role in the broader wellbeing and health ecosystem.

They are ideal for sporting injuries and suspected fractures, cuts that may need stitches, minor burns, sprains and strains, infections, ear and eye problems, and fevers.

Patients are seen by experienced general practitioners, with a background and training in urgent care, nurse practitioners and nurses, with on-site X-ray to support same-day assessment and treatment.

Centres are located at Armadale, Cannington, Cockburn, Joondalup, Kelmscott, Midland and Osborne Park.

See the dashboard in action on the St John Urgent Care website.