The possible death of 18 weeks
(First published in Roy Lilley’s nhsManagers newsletter) The English NHS breached the 18-week waiting times target in March, but the bald statistics just don’t give a sense of how bad... Read more
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Why 18 weeks might never be achieved again
England might breach the 18 week waiting times target again in April. After that, it might be gone for good.
Worst ever breach of England’s 18-weeks target
It was another bad month for England's 18 week waiting times - the worst performance since the "incomplete pathways" target was introduced in 2012, powered by the largest waiting list since January 2008.
Why planning should be part of performance reporting
Most performance reports tell you what happened, but not whether it was enough. That's a pretty big omission, and the only way to fix it is to have a plan and track your progress against it. What does that look like? And how do you actually do it?
The perfect partners: whole-hospital planning without breaches
Lower costs, more activity, and less fire-fighting. That's the power of planning electives and non-electives together, to achieve access standards for both, right across the hospital.
Modelling to achieve targets throughout the future period
"You have until October to clear the backlog. After that, no more breaches of the target will be tolerated." Now Gooroo Planner can achieve targets throughout a future period, not just at the end of it. It's a free upgrade, and this is how you use it.
18 weeks breached again as waiting list grows
The 18 weeks target was breached again, if you allow for non-reporting Trusts. But how was it possible for waiting times to improve slightly, when the waiting list grew, admissions were down, and less capacity was devoted to long waiters?
Waiting time targets – like happiness – are best pursued indirectly
It sounds sensible to book patients in before they breach the target. But in practice it is unfair, unsafe, and keeps waiting times on the brink of failure. There is a better way.
Planning a hospital for constant capacity – a worked example
In principle, we can plan the hospital to smooth out expensive peaks and troughs in capacity. In practice we need to apply some common sense too.
English waiting list grew by over 12 per cent year-on-year
Officially, England only just missed the 18 week target. Unofficially things were much worse because of non-reporting Trusts. What is most worrying is that the waiting list has grown by over 12 per cent year on year.