Waiting lists, waiting times and admissions: an empirical analysis at hospital and general practice level

Waiting lists, waiting times and admissions: an empirical analysis at hospital and general practice level.

We report an empirical analysis of the responses of the supply and demand for secondary care to waiting list size and waiting times. Whereas previous empirical analyses have used data aggregated to area level, our analysis focuses on the supply responses of a single hospital and the demand responses of the GP practices it serves, and distinguishes between first outpatient visits, inpatient admi...

Admissions from surgical waiting lists.

Many factors tend to reduce the efficiency of bed utilization in general hospitals. A numerically small, but clinically well-recognized, cause of wastage arises from the failure of waiting list patients to attend for admission when offered beds. The relative severity of the problem varies between clinical specialties, according to the proportions of total admissions accounted for by waiting lis...

Wide variations in hospital waiting times and lists.

Factors influencing waiting times and consultation times in general practice.

Using data collected from 85 general practitioners in Lothian, large variations were found in the time patients wait for and spend with their doctor. This study, which sets consultations into their administrative framework, examines factors which cause this variation. Consultation time was found to be affected by the total number of patients attending a particular surgery, while waiting time wa...

Waiting times for hospital admissions: the impact of GP fundholding.

Waiting times for hospital care are a significant issue in the UK National Health Service (NHS). The reforms of the health service in 1990 gave a subset of family doctors (GP fundholders) both the ability to choose the hospital where their patients were treated and the means to pay for some services. One of the key factors influencing family doctors' choice of hospital was patient waiting time....