The cost of keeping patients waiting: retrospective treatment-control study of additional healthcare utilisation for UK patients awaiting elective treatment.

Autor: James C; The National Institute for Health and Care Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR Bristol BRC), University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. charlotte.james@bristol.ac.uk.; The National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West) at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK. charlotte.james@bristol.ac.uk.; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, UK. charlotte.james@bristol.ac.uk.; Modelling and Analytics, UK National Health Service (BNSSG ICB), Bristol, UK. charlotte.james@bristol.ac.uk., Denholm R; The National Institute for Health and Care Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR Bristol BRC), University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, UK.; Health Data Research UK South West, Bristol, UK., Wood R; Modelling and Analytics, UK National Health Service (BNSSG ICB), Bristol, UK.; Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement (CHI2), School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC health services research [BMC Health Serv Res] 2024 Apr 30; Vol. 24 (1), pp. 556. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 30.
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-024-10931-2
Abstrakt: Objective: Long waiting times for elective hospital treatments are common in many countries. This study seeks to address a deficit in the literature concerning the effect of long waits on the wider consumption of healthcare resources.
Methods: We carried out a retrospective treatment-control study in a healthcare system in South West England from 15 June 2021 to 15 December 2021. We compared weekly contacts with health services of patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment ('Treatments') and people not on a waiting list ('Controls'). Controls were matched to Treatments based on age, sex, deprivation and multimorbidity. Treatments were stratified by the clinical specialty of the awaited hospital treatment, with healthcare usage assessed over various healthcare settings. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests assessed whether there was an increase in healthcare utilisation and bootstrap resampling was used to estimate the magnitude of any differences.
Results: A total of 44,616 patients were waiting over 18 weeks (the constitutional target in England) for treatment during the study period. There was an increase (p < 0.0004) in healthcare utilisation for all specialties. Patients in the Cardiothoracic Surgery specialty had the largest increase, with 17.9 [interquartile-range: 4.3, 33.8] additional contacts with secondary care and 17.3 [-1.1, 34.1] additional prescriptions per year.
Conclusion: People waiting for treatment consume higher levels of healthcare than comparable individuals not on a waiting list. These findings are relevant for clinicians and managers in better understanding patient need and reducing harm. Results also highlight the possible 'false economy' in failing to promptly resolve long elective waits.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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