Waiting time targets – like happiness – are best pursued indirectly
It sounds sensible to book patients in before they breach the target. But in practice it is unfair, unsafe, and keeps waiting times on the brink of failure. There is a better way.
Waiting times are a function of two things: the size of the waiting list, and the order in which patients are scheduled. You have to do both to sustain the waiting times targets, and they are best managed separately.
This sounds uncontroversial but it has profound implications for management. Staff who schedule patients should only be judged by how well they schedule. They should not be judged by whether the access targets were achieved, because that is not within their control – the target might be breached because the waiting list is too large, which is a capacity planning issue not a scheduling one.
Gooroo Planner helps directly with both aspects of waiting times management. It shows visually whether patient scheduling is safe and fair for all patients, and how it can be improved. It also plans the waiting time and capacity trajectories that are needed through the year to achieve your objectives. So everybody can see what they need to do, and how close they are to achieving it, without treading on each others’ toes.
Features
A whole host of features...
With every one of the benefits Gooroo offers there's also a whole host of features worth mentioning
Calculates the waiting list profile that is consistent with achieving your waiting times targets throughout the year.
Calculates the activity and capacity required, week by week, to deliver that size of waiting list.
Also calculates the waiting times that should be achievable with different sizes of waiting list, to manage expectations when waiting lists are larger or smaller.
Simulates, patient by patient, how better patient scheduling can deliver those waiting times safely in practice.
Visualises shortcomings and risks in current patient scheduling practices, right down to patient level, and provides learning opportunities for improving this.
Blog posts
Wait control: a new system for better waiting list management
Creating a new system for waiting list management will help trusts nail their waiting times targets
Gooroo Planner upgrade: tactical activity planning for operational managers
Now you can edit week-by-week activity directly in the Profiling screen, and watch waiting times rise and fall as you work. This and other goodies in the latest upgrade.