Publication of average waiting times

Published on: 2 July 2019

Question type: Written

Asked by: Geoffrey Southern

Reference: WQ.296/2019

Answered by: Minister for Health and Social Services

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WQ.296/2019

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 2nd JULY 2019

Question

Further to the response to Oral Question 165/2019, will the Minister commit to publishing waiting times for specialist healthcare services using the mode average (i.e. most frequent), separated into the waiting time to see a consultant and the waiting time for treatment?

Answer

Currently we publish average (mean) waiting times on www.gov.je by specialty for:

patients seen by a consultant in an outpatient clinic at Jersey General Hospital (JGH) /Overdale for their first appointment; and
patients being admitted to JGH for an inpatient/daycase procedure/treatment.

We are undertaking significant work on our data to allow more robust breakdown of the figures and also to provide assurance about robust management of the waiting lists – through the development of a PTL (Patient Tracking List). We will publish further data when we are in a position to do so.

This will include a breakdown by clinical priority (urgent/soon/routine) for patients referred to a consultant in secondary care and patients admitted for a procedure.

As part of the data work, publication of the different measures of average (mean, median and mode) will be considered. Each has its limitations and it is important to consider the distribution of waiting times. For example, the mode does not take account of outliers, such as very long waits.