We need to talk about referral-to-treatment waiting times
Referral-to-treatment waiting times were a tremendous success, but their future is now in doubt. The time has come to ask: is there a better alternative?
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Waiting times steady despite slowdown in admissions
Yet another large trust stopped reporting its referral-to-treatment data, which clouded the picture for the latest November figures and raised non-reported waiting lists to a new record. But overall the waiting time picture was 'steady as she goes', despite continued low rates of patients being admitted from the waiting list.
A straightforward way to model follow-up (repeat) outpatients
You could model follow-up outpatients directly, as waiting list services within complex clinical pathways. But setting the data up is rather fiddly, and there is a more straightforward approach.
Record numbers of patients missing from official waiting lists
Yet another trust stopped reporting its waiting list data in October, bringing the estimated number of missing patients to its highest ever level.
Safety or targets? The government’s choice on routine waiting times
NHS England's priorities point to a patient safety approach on waiting times. But will the government override them in pursuit of targets?
Why the boring old Mandate just got interesting
"We can't do everything on that budget", cried NHS England. "Well you've got to", replied the Secretary of State.
“I need our long-wait trajectories for a meeting tomorrow!”
A long-waits forecast that was accurate down to the last patient? Yes, and two months running too. We'd be the first to admit there was a lot of luck in it. But you have to be shooting pretty straight to get that lucky...
The cost of restoring 18 week waits
With some guesses about the costs per case, I reckon recovering 18 weeks sustainably might cost £2.1 billion next year and £350 million the year after, if other pressures and enough mainstream capacity are funded. Or £4.2 billion next year and £1 billion the year after, if austerity continues.
Sharp fall in elective admission rate
September's admission rate was sharply down on recent years. However waiting list management recovered, enabling a slight improvement in waiting times to 20.3 weeks. That's still well above 18 weeks though, and the trend remains up.
Introducing monthly cancer control charts
Are your cancer pathways designed to breach the targets? Why not check, using our new monthly cancer control charts? Based on data published by NHS England they analyse whether your cancer pathways are in control, and how often they are expected to breach, so you know what action you need to take.