CityX
From practice

Who is on duty tonight: the doctor, the pharmacy and the number to call

It is Saturday night and a child has a fever. Nobody wants a directory then. They want to know who is working right now, and which number to call.

Tomislav Krnic

Founder of the smart city project CityX · 3 min read

It is Saturday night and a child has a fever. The family doctor's surgery is closed until Monday. The parents know there is a doctor on duty somewhere, and a pharmacy that is open. They do not know which, or the number, and this is exactly when nobody wants to search.

Somewhere the answer exists, but it is scattered: doctors, pharmacies, dentists, hospitals, each in a different place and in different words. A worried parent late at night does not go through five websites.

The number comes first

Out of hours, help usually starts with a phone call, not with an address. Often there is one number to ring: someone judges how serious it is and gives you an appointment at one of the duty posts. So the service puts the number first and the address second.

And "who is on duty" is mostly a question of when. The service knows every service's hours, weekends and public holidays included, and always shows who is working right now and until when.

The tile is green while the duty runs and shows the number. The page puts the emergency number first, then the doctor on duty with one button to call.
The tile is green while the duty runs and shows the number. The page puts the emergency number first, then the doctor on duty with one button to call.
The tile is green while the duty runs and shows the number. The page puts the emergency number first, then the doctor on duty with one button to call.

On the home screen the On duty tile is green while the duty runs, like a pharmacy's lit cross in the street. It shows one fact, the number, and until when the duty lasts. Its last line is always the emergency number.

The page opens with a red line: life in danger, do not wait, call right away. Below it comes the doctor on duty, the number in large type and short advice: call first, bring your ID card. Then the duty posts, with whether each one is open and how far away it is.

One tap from a call

Below, a card per kind of help: the pharmacy, the dentist, the hospitals' emergency departments, the helplines and the vet. Every number is one tap from a call. The row opens a page about that service: what it is and when it is the right choice.

The pharmacy and the dentist on duty, with what a call costs. A hospital's page: when it is open, the phone number, the address and the map.
The pharmacy and the dentist on duty, with what a call costs. A hospital's page: when it is open, the phone number, the address and the map.
The pharmacy and the dentist on duty, with what a call costs. A hospital's page: when it is open, the phone number, the address and the map.

Where several pharmacies are on duty at once, one tap opens tonight's list. Where two pharmacies take turns, the service simply says whose turn it is today. Either way, the parent knows where to drive before putting on their coat.

What it takes

A person at the city who knows who citizens should call when the surgeries are closed, and the decision to put that answer in one place. From then on the service always shows who is on duty at that moment, holidays included.

It is a short list with a large effect. Most nights nobody opens it. On the night a child has a fever, the city is the one that had the answer.