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Is theatre utilization a valid performance indicator for NHS operating theatres?
Omar Faiz1, Paris Tekkis, Alistair McGuire
1Department of Surgery, St Mark's Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 3UJ, UK. omarfaiz@aol.com
BMC Health Services Research
|February 2, 2008
Summary
Operating theatre utilization in the NHS is influenced by list size and overruns, not surgeon performance. While it can indicate administrative issues, it
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Surgical Operations Research
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Operating theatre utilization is a key metric for National Health Service (NHS) theatre performance.
- This study evaluates its effectiveness as a management tool, an inter-hospital efficiency indicator, and a measure of surgeon service performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the validity of theatre utilization as a performance indicator in the NHS.
- To identify key factors influencing theatre utilization.
- To determine if utilization accurately reflects surgeon service performance.
Main Methods:
- A multivariate linear regression model was applied to seven years of elective general surgery operating list data from an NHS Teaching hospital.
- Factors analyzed included operating list size, surgeon/anaesthetist influence, late starts, overruns, session type, and theatre suite.
Main Results:
- The strongest predictors of operating list utilization were list size (p < 0.01) and list overruns (p < 0.01).
- While surgeons' impact on utilization varied, their overall influence was minimal.
- 7,283 inpatient and 8,314 day case operations were analyzed.
Conclusions:
- Theatre utilization generally correlates with the volume of elective surgeries performed.
- Extreme utilization values may signal administrative failures within trusts but are not specific enough for inter-trust comparisons.
- Unadjusted utilization rates do not accurately represent surgeon service performance due to limited surgeon influence.
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