All over New Zealand, hospital theatres go idle because it’s become so time-consuming to match surgeons, skilled staff and equipment. Patients wait. Lists lengthen.
Anaesthetist Dr Jeremy Young, like so many medtech innovators, decided there had to be a better way, so he developed Velara, a web-based scheduling system.
“Here’s a common scenario. A hospital has a theatre available on the 17th and if they can staff it, then several patients can have their surgery, but because there’s no online system accessible to everyone needed for that theatre, it can go idle. If it’s private hospital, then there is a flow-on effect on revenue.
“Here’s another. Surgeon Nicola wants John, her preferred anaesthetist, on the 20th. Hospital staff start tracking John using email, texts, WhatsApp, and phone calls – the modern version of phone tag. This goes on for several days until staff and John connect. It’s a ‘no,’ as John will be at a symposium on the 17th. Nicola suggests Robert as her second choice, and the whole process all over again.
“So, we have surgical theatres lying idle at a time when waiting lists are growing and the health system is so desperately stretched. We have under pressure administrative staff spending an inordinate amount of time trying to match everything up. We have ongoing scheduling nightmares. We should never, ever have these situations in the public health system where resources are stretched so thinly,” says Young.
“Velara eliminates all that back-and-forth. No leaving messages. No double-bookings. Theatres are less likely to go idle. Delays are removed. The chase disappears. Friction disappears.”
In simple terms, Velara is a finder. Young designed it to find surgeons and anaesthetists and match them up.
“Velara provides a centralised booking system with one queue. It can match clinicians by availability, location, and preferences to minimise cancellations. It prevents double-booking and manages real-time conflicts and holds. All communication is in one place and secure,” says Young.
While he began Velara with a focus on anaesthetists, Young realised that surgeons also needed the same approach, and then he saw how it could apply to technical staff, equipment, and theatres.
“Velara has the potential to streamline surgical scheduling across hospitals, surgeons and anaesthetists, reducing scheduling errors and last-minute changes. It’s instant, seamless, secure. Preferences can be pre-loaded, which is important in a sector where trust and personality are so important. It also means that critical knowledge about preferences held by an EA or PA doesn’t leave when she does. It also frees up those people to do much higher value work which benefits them, their colleagues, and the health system.”
Velara is currently being trialled in some Wellington private hospitals with a focus on finding anaesthetists and feedback is positive.
"Velara takes the chase out of scheduling. The team’s calmer and the right people are confirmed when they’re needed - no drama."
"We have been using Velara for about three or four months now and this has been a worthwhile tool to have. Velara has helped decrease our workload with anaesthetic rostering by about 50 per cent. In the past we would send emails out to our anaesthetists, and they would all reply with their availability. We would then reply back to each one with what we had scheduled for them. We would try to share this out evenly between all anaesthetists that had replied. At times, this created inaccuracies as it was easy to miss a session or easy to double book anaesthetists to the same sessions. With the Velara app it takes only seconds to create a notification that gets sent to all chosen anaesthetists. This has created less time and more efficiencies in anaesthetist rostering. You won’t look back!"
"Velara has been a great system since we started using it. It’s saved me so much time that I used to spend emailing multiple anaesthetists just to fill our procedure lists. The system is easy to use and understand, and it’s a great way to keep track of all our requests in one place. I love that we can see instantly when an anaesthetist declines, and the automatic email notification when someone accepts a list is incredibly helpful. The colour-coding on the calendar makes it clear which lists still need anaesthetists or are waiting for a response. Overall, Velara has not only saved us time but has also cut down on so many back-and-forth emails. Highly recommend!"
Over the next six to 12 months, Young is aiming to expand Velara into other hospitals across New Zealand and then into Australia. “Right now, we’re focusing on two goals: a surgeon finder for idle theatres and finding angel investors or venture capitalists to help us move from bootstrapping to growth.”
Young is already seeing opportunities for Velara in other fields. “Anywhere you have phone tag, Velara can help. Nursing, technicians, dental practices, vets, even non-medical sectors – these are all places where more efficient scheduling will improve outcomes for everyone.”
And, like any good cloud-based service, it can be run from a beach in Bali, if necessary.
Find out more information here
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