The active management of surgical waiting lists: a urological surgery case study

Elective surgery waiting list management is a major public healthcare issue. This case study describes an integrated multifaceted approach to waiting list management at Peninsula Health, a public health service in Victoria, Australia. At the commencement of this study it was recognised that several issues associated with the urological surgical service constituted potential clinical risk. These included: recall mechanisms for multiple surveillance procedures; significant resource deficits; and long surgery waiting times. Responding to these issues a multifaceted approach to wait list management was implemented including: audit; direct lines of communication between clinical and administrative staff; urgent caseload management; utilisation of the Elective Surgery Access Scheme; financial and resource analysis justifying the appointment of a full-time urologist, and the establishment of a urology service from a satellite campus; implementation of a recall database; development of an outpatient service; and commencement of a day surgery initiative. This approach yielded results that included a 67% reduction in the number of 'ready for care' patients and a 78% reduction in the number of patients classified as 'overdue for surgery'. Average wait time for semi-urgent and non-urgent patients reduced from 248 days to 180 days in the 10-month period.