How to shorten hospital waiting lists at no cost
The case for standby hospital appointments
Towards the end of covid, I had a frozen shoulder. If you have ever had one, you will know how painful it is. If I had had a manual job, I would have been signed off, as I could not lift my left arm very far.
I waited six months to see the consultant at Guy’s Hospital in central London. I arrived in plenty of time, and was seen 20 minutes early because the person in front of me had not turned up.
My consultant said that no-shows were common, for many reasons.
Some people are a day or a week late, confused as to when to turn up
Some people are an hour or two late, because of transport problems
Some people go to the wrong hospital site - St Thomas’s rather than Guy’s (“Oh, I thought you were one hospital”)
Some people go to their usual hospital - for example Kingston before being sent on.
Some people’s conditions clear up naturally
Some people go private, and forget, can’t be bothered, or don’t know how to cancel their NHS appointment. Going private is common for painful muscular-skeletal problems like frozen shoulders. A private op costs £700, and is successful six out of seven times. (I paid, but I was the unlucky seventh).
Having diagnosed me in thirty seconds flat, and told me I would be treated within the hour (oh happy days, happy days!) we had a chat about how to organise things better. We came up with two ideas to increase productivity, speed up treatment, and shorten waiting lists.
The first idea is that…