The Government of Western Australia has launched a new WA Emergency Waiting Times app, designed by local technology services house Readify, which will help Perth residents quickly and easily choose which hospital to go to in an emergency.

Readify’s WA team developed the app on their own initiative in response to Government Chief Information Officer Giles Nunis’ public commitment to use Government open data in smart ways, and to demonstrate that innovation can greatly benefit the public without costing a fortune.

The app uses existing Perth hospital emergency wait time data, and taps into mobile device geolocation, local maps and traffic data to give people needing to go to the hospital in a non life-threatening emergency an aggregated travel + wait time.

Perth residents can now see whether it is worth driving a bit further than the closest hospital to attend an emergency department that is not as busy, make their decision quicker, get directions and jump in the car.

The app is currently deployed to both iOS and Android, and is available to download from the App Store and Google Play. The application is hosted in Microsoft Azure, meaning it is a scalable and can be used by an almost unlimited amount of people.

Readify WA Sales Manager Glen Appleton said the idea was sparked by an initiative by the Government CIO to demonstrate how the whole of government could access and use open and cross-departmental data in much better ways to benefit the people of WA.

“One example of this opportunity was the Department of Health currently listing the emergency department waiting times on their website, but no-one was really aware of it,” Mr Appleton said.

“We took it upon ourselves to develop a proof of concept by taking this information and developing a location based, cross platform mobile application. Then we contacted the Government CIO to offer this as an easy demonstration of his initiative by using this kind of data.”

Readify’s WA Service Delivery Manager Matt Davies said the app is a great example of Readify’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach to software development.

“The initial iteration took two developers three days to build, with some assistance from a UX (user experience) consultant,” Matt said. “The MVP approach to software development allows the delivery of a viable new product to market, rapidly adapting the product direction along the way using feedback from potential users of the application.”

“By getting a core set of features to market quickly, we can make sure that we get the outcome users need without overinvesting in functionality that isn’t absolutely essential.

“We really wanted to show how something of high value can be developed in a very short timeframe with minimal risk and cost.  Innovation doesn’t have to mean expensive, long term, big bang projects,” Mr Appleton said.