Outpatient clinic waiting times and non-attendance as indicators of quality

This paper examined outpatient waiting times, their association with perceptions of service quality and whether concern about waiting times influences attendance. A postal survey was conducted with two adult general hospital outpatient departments. Random samples of 500 outpatient attenders and 250 non-attenders were invited to take part in the survey one week following an outpatient clinic appointment. Patient waiting time for appointment: Median 28 days, range 0-336 days. Half of outpatients were seen within 60 minutes of clinic appointment (median time to consultation: 60 minutes (range = 0-270 minutes)). Most (64%) rated waiting times as unsatisfactory. The correlation between waiting time and overall satisfaction with treatment was low (r =- 0.11). The correlation between waiting times at the clinic and satisfaction with waiting times was moderate (r =- 0.55). The majority of non-attenders reported being unable (58%), rather than unwilling (13%), to attend appointments (main reasons: ill-health (21%) and employment disruption (17%)). Outpatient satisfaction with clinic treatment was not associated with waiting times. Over one-third of those who chose not to attend stayed away because they expected to have to wait for long periods. Lengthy waiting times in outpatient clinics remain a challenge to quality care.