baseline

1. baseline • The baseline : 8.1 Adding waiting patients to lists and schedules • Overall gap analysis undertaken in February 2012 and reviewed 6 monthly thereafter. • With specific reference to 8.1: • Patients were/are required to be added to a waiting list within 48 hours (policy KPI - within 3 working days) • Urgent patients were/are booked directly to an appointment and not placed on waiting lists. • RVEEH does not currently advise patients and/or their referrer of expected waiting times for an appointment.

2. challenges Challenges: • Accurate data provision – determining what is actually being measured • How to achieve a 100% compliance with referral to waiting list KPI? • Resource constraints • Clerical, orthoptic and medical • Provision of adequate information on referrals – diagnostics etc • Implementation of new referral and triage guidelines • Returning referrals for more information • Capacity issues of some specialist clinics • Routine juggling and rescheduling of patients to accommodate urgent patient referrals • Managing the interface between the Emergency Department and specialist clinics • Accurate identification of treatment requirements → accurate and equitable appointment scheduling/waitlisting.

3. action plan • Action plan • Managing waiting patients - RVEEH aim to implement an improved waiting list management system to ensure waiting lists reflect accurate wait times and patient numbers. This system will also address policy requirements around equitable access to services and compliance with patient communication requirements • Activity primarily relates to the Outpatient Booking and Orthoptic units • Implementation of the Outpatient module in the Business Intelligence tool • Implementation milestones • Waiting List Coordinator appointed – February 2014 • Waiting List Management procedure implemented – May 2014 • Waiting List Validation schedule implemented – June 2014 • Evaluation of both Waiting List Management procedure and Validation schedule – December 2014 • Implementation of any identified and required rectification processes – February 2015

4. progress and challenges • Progress • Waiting List Management Coordinator – recruitment process almost complete • Draft waiting list audit /validation matrix developed • Waiting list validation process underway for selected specialist clinics: • Letter audits • File audits • Review clinics established • Routine review of gap analysis • Challenges • Recruitment process • Resourcing • Clerical, orthoptic and medical • Physical space • Juggling competing service priorities eg the recent redesign of the general eye clinic structure • Managing patient expectations and treatment requirements • Managing clinician expectations • Are we on track to aligning with the Access Policy by 1 July 2015? 