Waiting time for elective surgery in NI [COVID-19]

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Challenges and Possible Solutions for Long Waiting Times for Elective Surgeries in Northern Ireland

  • IRAS ID

    284139

  • Contact name

    Mike Clarke

  • Contact email

    m.clarke@qub.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Queen's University Belfast

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 3 months, 28 days

  • Research summary

    The proposed research seeks to identify feasible performance management strategies and interventions to reduce unreasonable waiting lists in Northern Ireland (NI) hospitals using a variety of evidence-based methodologies. Demand for elective surgeries is escalating and waiting times have been taken as a key performance indicator of Health and Social Care (HSC) services to encourage performance in hospitals towards high-quality care without unnecessary delay. Irrespective of the underlying strategies, waiting times for elective surgeries have increased dramatically over the past few years. The ability of hospitals to improve performance has often been restricted due to resource constraints. The COVID-19 pandemic adds an additional burden to this issue.

    In the first phase of the PhD, a comprehensive systematic review will search for evidence on policy strategies used to reduce long waiting times for major elective surgeries globally. In the second component, waiting times for different elective surgeries in NI will be analyzed in detail using population-based data. Alongside this quantitative study of waiting lists, qualitative research will describe the causes and effects of the waiting lists from the perspective of clinicians, service providers, and health service research experts. A series of interviews will be carried out to collect qualitative data pertaining to these issues. Representatives from administrative staff, clinical staff, and operational level staff will be invited for interviews from the selected HSC Trust. Bringing these three sources of knowledge together will allow the identification of strategies that might be recommended to ease the burden of long waiting times for elective surgery in NI. This is an important piece of work for policy and decision-makers in the NI Health Department and is likely to prove useful for other UK regions in the UK. It should also provide useful information as the healthcare system emerges from COVID-19 and the associated measures.

  • REC name

    N/A

  • REC reference

    N/A