Waiting time information services: what are the implications of waiting list behaviour for their design?

Waiting list behaviour and the consequences for NHS targets

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) is investing considerable resources in reducing patient waiting times for elective treatment. This paper describes the development of a waiting list model and its use in a simulation to assess management options. Simulation usually assumes that waiting is adequately described by simple queuing disciplines, typically first-in-first-out. However,...

Status epilepticus: For what are we waiting?

Waiting time prioritisation for specialist services in Italy: the homogeneous waiting time groups approach.

The demand for referrals and diagnostic procedures in Italy has been rising constantly in recent years, making access to diagnostic services increasingly difficult with significant waiting times. A number of Health Authorities (known as Local Health Units) have responded by implementing formalised waiting-time prioritisation tools, giving rise to what are known as Homogeneous Waiting Groups (HW...

Simulating waiting list management.

Patients' experiences of waiting for treatment have changed dramatically in recent years in the United Kingdom's National Health Service. There has been a substantial reduction in the mean wait but the characteristics of the distributions have also changed significantly, implying a change in priorities and waiting list management. Simulations are often used to assess proposals for investment an...

Waiting-list buster.

THE GOVERNMENTS new initiative to cut hospital waiting lists is too simplistic and underfunded to be effective, nurses have warned.