The medical appointment booking app BookHA has been expanded to cover Clinical Oncology and Anaesthesiology (Pain Clinic) for patients.

Launched by the Hospital Authority, the app provides new case booking services for Specialist Outpatient Clinics.

From today patients can make new case bookings for Gynaecology; Ear, Nose & Throat; Eye; Neurosurgery; Orthopaedics & Traumatology; Medicine; Surgery; Cardiothoracic Surgery; Obstetrics; Paediatrics; Clinical Oncology; and Anaesthesiology (Pain Clinic) through the app.

They can scan the 2D barcode on referral letters issued by the authority with the built-in function of the app to make new case bookings at the clinics.

Generally, priority for consultations will be given to patients triaged as urgent. At present, the median waiting time is within two weeks and they will receive notifications by telephone and text message.

Other patients who are triaged as stable will receive a text message notification within 14 days.

Patients can also use the app’s booking cancellation function to cancel an appointment instead of calling the clinic.

As of the end of October, more than 330,000 app downloads have been recorded since the launch of the app in March 2016.

Appointments have been arranged for more than 120,000 patients among some 160,000 applications.