Managing Bookings & Wait Times

Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Breakthrough Model

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization driving the improvement of health by advancing the quality and value of health care. Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, IHI offers an extensive set of tools for working collaboratively including tips on emails with patients, telephone consultations, scheduling appointments, and its advanced access model to reduce the waiting times and delays in primary health care. http://www.ihi.org/ihi

National Primary Care Development Team (NPDT)

This Web page from the United Kingdom contains practical information and resources to support service improvement. The National Primary Care Collaborative (NPCC), the first of NPDT's programs, has now engaged almost 5000 practices covering more than 32 million patients, and produced dramatic reductions in waiting times and improvements in patient care. This makes it the largest health improvement program worldwide. It uses IHI's approach. http://www.npdt.org/scripts/default.asp?site_id=1

The Western Canada Waiting List (WCWL)

A collaboration of 20 partner organizations committed to addressing this issue and influencing the way waiting lists are structured and managed. The focus of the WCWL project has been to develop and refine practical tools for prioritizing patients on scheduled waiting lists. Scoring tools for priority setting were developed through extensive clinical input and highly iterative exchange by clinical panels constituted in five clinical areas: cataract surgery; general surgery procedures; hip and knee replacement; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning, and children's mental health. http://www.wcwl.org/tools/