Definition of Waiting List

Access to certain public services is not always fast. In fact, it is relatively often necessary to assume a long waiting period. This phenomenon occurs to a greater or lesser extent in most countries and is popularly known as the waiting list problem. This problem is especially worrisome when the wait is too long and is related to a medical visit or even a intervention surgical

This concept can be analyze from different perspectives: according to medical specialties, for procedures surgical procedures, establishing comparisons between regions or countries or studying the lists based on the socio-economic profiles of the population.

Waiting for a doctor's appointment for months and years

If a medical test is not carried out within a reasonable period of time, the affected person can significantly worsen their health. In this sense, public health systems try to reduce waiting times, but to date no one has been found solution definitively and fully satisfactory.

To make the waiting list as less damaging as possible, systems have been put in place that establish some kind of priority. Thus, patients with serious illnesses are treated earlier than those with minor pathologies.

The quality any sanitary system It is established by assessing a series of objective parameters and one of them is precisely the average time that a patient must remain on a waiting list.

A problem with multiple causes

Like many other problems, waiting lists are caused by factors various. First, in some countries the number of doctors and health personnel is insufficient. Sometimes, the origin of the problem lies in the insufficient public budget to meet the medical needs of the population. Poor management and planning health can also be another cause.

Ways of solution

In some health systems, the figure of the Patient Ombudsman has been introduced and one of its functions is to report waiting lists. In Australia, public hospitals that reduce waiting times receive some kind of incentive. Some states have incorporated specific computer systems to address this problem.

Regardless of the strategies used to reduce this deficiency, there are two possible alternatives: reduction or reduction of delay times or reduction of the list of citizens who must be catered.

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