WTP7.6 Novel ambulatory surgical pathways can reduce operation waiting times whilst maintaining patient outcomes

Reducing Patient Waiting Time at an Ambulatory Surgical Center

This chapter describes a methodology to reduce patient waiting time in a for-profit ambulatory surgical center. Patients in this facility are scheduled in advance for the various operations, and yet operations start late, last longer than expected creating undesired delays. Although this facility is limited to ambulatory surgery, it provides a large number of different surgeries, which are sche...

Whilst Maintaining Robust Epidemiological Predictions

Can a surgical treatment centre reduce waiting lists? Results of a natural experiment.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of the Welsh general surgery (hernia and varicose veins) treatment centre established as part of the NHS reforms, in terms of its impact upon throughput and waiting lists. DESIGN This was a natural experiment with two control groups--other surgical specialties without treatment centre provision, and general surgery in districts that made only min...

Preserving privacy whilst maintaining robust epidemiological predictions.

Mathematical models are invaluable tools for quantifying potential epidemics and devising optimal control strategies in case of an outbreak. State-of-the-art models increasingly require detailed individual farm-based and sensitive data, which may not be available due to either lack of capacity for data collection or privacy concerns. However, in many situations, aggregated data are available fo...

Do waiting times affect health outcomes? Evidence from coronary bypass.

Long waiting times for non-emergency services are a feature of several publicly-funded health systems. A key policy concern is that long waiting times may worsen health outcomes: when patients receive treatment, their health condition may have deteriorated and health gains reduced. This study investigates whether patients in need of coronary bypass with longer waiting times are associated with ...