An evolution in the collection of elective surgery waiting times
data is the focus of Waiting Times for Elective Surgery in
Australia 1998-99 released today by the Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Head of the AIHW's Hospitals and Mental Health Services Unit,
Jenny Hargreaves, said that improvements in data quality over the
last couple of years have now enabled the Institute to provide a
better overview of elective surgery waiting times.
'We are now able to present information according to the
specialty of the surgeon who was to perform the elective surgery,
and include data about patients waiting for particular procedures,'
Ms Hargreaves said.
'But to give a clearer picture of what's happening at State and
Territory level we still need more improvements in data quality,
timeliness, and consistency in data collection.'
Ms Hargreaves said that the Institute had been emphasising
waiting times as 'a better indicator of hospital performance' than
numbers on waiting lists. 'After all, if a particular hospital has
a long waiting list, but the patients on the list are all operated
on within a week, then the size of the list may not be a
problem.'
The report shows that around 20% of Australians waiting for
elective surgery had 'extended waits' (waited for longer periods
than defined desirable periods) at the end of June 1999. About 20%
of patients classified as 'category 1' (admission clinically
desirable within 30 days) had waited longer than the defined
period.
For those admitted for elective surgery during 1998-99, about 9%
had experienced extended waits. Orthopaedic surgery had the largest
proportion of patients with extended waits (15%), followed by ear,
nose and throat surgery (13%).
Among the procedures for which data were available, total knee
replacement had the largest proportion of patients admitted with
extended waits (26%).
The experience of various States and Territories still cannot be
compared with confidence. The figures show variation in the
percentage of patients waiting an extended time before admission,
from less than 10% in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and the
Northern Territory to more than 20% in Tasmania and the Australian
Capital Territory.
'With the data we currently have these differences are difficult
for us to explain,' Ms Hargreaves said. 'It may be a combination of
differences in coverage and use of definitions in each State and
Territory, variation in the assignment of urgency categories and
differences in the types of elective surgery undertaken.'
27 July 2001
Further information: Jenny Hargreaves, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1121
Media copies of the report: Publications Officer, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1032
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.