As a result of the profound changes taking place in medicine, healthcare delivery and society at large,
resource planning in hospitals becomes an ever more critical and complex issue. An issue with which
traditional Hospital Information Systems cannot cope.
This article aims to show that the requirements for the appointment scheduling function have risen to
such complexity that they can only be addressed by a dedicated, best in class application. The nature of
the application and its integration into the HIS are discussed, together with the unprecedented opportunity for change. These include, inter alia, the use of the Internet for the online booking of appoinment