England in July: longer queue, longer waits
The waiting list grew, waiting times went up, and so did the risk of an 18 week national breach.
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The worst that can happen
“If we let this urgent patient wait just a few days longer, then we can get this near-breach patient treated before the end of the month”. What would you do?
Scottish waiting times spiral upwards
Scottish outpatient waits are still going up like a rocket. But tackling them effectively will pile further pressure on the higher-profile Treatment Time Guarantee.
Modelling subspecialties (and sub sub specialties)
Operational managers often like to see their capacity plans at sub specialty level, especially in general surgery and orthopaedics. This is easily done in Gooroo Planner, but here are some things you may need to watch out for. And it's similar for other levels of detail, such as hospital site, commissioner, and procedure based modelling.
English waiting list grows again
The English waiting list grew again in June. It needs to shrink decisively this autumn to avoid trouble on 18 weeks over winter.
Why does the NHS always need extra capacity?
Is the NHS always short of capacity because it's always short of money? Perhaps not. Waiting list initiatives and a reliance on 'extra' suggest that something else is going on.
Letting your belt out
In the long run, you can do no more and no less than keep up with demand. But, unlikely as it may sound, you can choose whether or not to keep breaching the waiting times targets. (First published at nhsManagers)
Modelling follow-up outpatient backlogs
A practical guide to modelling follow-up outpatients (known as "returns" or "repeats" in Scotland) using Gooroo Planner, including waiting times, capacity, and how to model defined courses of treatment.
Winter Planning – No Surprises?
A guest post by Jonathon Fagge, who has been through five winter planning seasons as an NHS Commissioner – three as a Director and two as CEO. He asks two big questions: how could it be done better, and why isn't it?
English waiting list reaches record size
The English waiting list grew seasonally in May to reach a record size. But waiting times remained steady, as the deterioration was concentrated in shorter-waiting specialties.