National Healthcare Agreement: P34-Waiting times for elective surgery, 2010
Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Indicator |
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| Indicator type: | Indicator |
| Short name: | Waiting times for elective surgery, 2010 |
| METEOR identifier: | 395010 |
| Registration status: |
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| Description: | Median and 90th percentile waiting times for elective surgery in public hospitals, including by indicator procedure |
| Indicator set: | National Healthcare Agreement (2010) Health, Superseded 08/06/2011 |
| Outcome area: | Hospital and Related Care National Health Performance Authority (retired), Retired 01/07/2016 Health, Standard 07/07/2010 |
| Quality statement: | National Healthcare Agreement: P34-Waiting times for elective surgery, 2010 QS Health, Superseded 08/06/2011 |
Collection and usage attributes | |
| Computation description: | Waiting times are calculated for patients whose reason for removal was Admitted as an elective patient.
Includes the proportion of removals for elective admission that waited more than 365 days. Elective surgery as defined in the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) for elective surgery waiting times. See Australian Hospital Statistics 2007-08 for a list of indicator procedures. The data presented for this indicator are sourced from linked records in the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) and National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection (NESWTDC). The linked records represent about 97% of all records in NESWTDC for 2007-08. Presented as number of days; median and 90th percentile waiting times. |
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| Computation: | The number of days waiting time is calculated by subtracting the listing date for care from the removal date, minus any days when the patient was 'not ready for care', and also minus any days the patient was waiting with a less urgent clinical urgency category than their clinical urgency category at removal.
Calculated overall and for each indicator procedure. |
| Numerator: | No numerator |
| Numerator data elements: | |
| Denominator: | No denominator |
| Disaggregation data elements: | |
| Comments: | Specified disaggregation: Nationally and by state/territory: by indicator procedure, public hospital peer group, Indigenous status, remoteness area and SEIFA of residence.
Available disaggregation: Nationally and by state/territory: by indicator procedure, public hospital peer group, Indigenous status (NSW, Vic, QLD, SA, WA and NT public hospitals only) remoteness area and SEIFA of residence. Data for 2008-09 will be available in June 2010. Most recent data available for 2010 CRC baseline report: 2007-08 |
Representational attributes | |
| Representation class: | Median |
| Data type: | Real |
| Unit of measure: | Time (e.g. days, hours) |
| Format: | N[NN] |
Indicator conceptual framework | |
| Framework and dimensions: | Accessibility |
Data source attributes | |
| Data sources: | National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) Frequency Annual Data custodian Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection Frequency Annual Data custodian Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Accountability attributes | |
| Reporting requirements: | National Healthcare Agreement |
| Organisation responsible for providing data: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
| Further data development / collection required: | Specification: Long-term
Revision of indicator procedure categories. A Health Policy Priorities Principal Committee (HPPPC) working group is considering this issue. It is not currently possible to transfer a patient’s waiting time from one hospital to another (in cases where patients are transferred from a waiting list managed by one hospital to a waiting list managed by another) in all states and territories. The indicator procedure list was developed over 10 years ago and could be reviewed to ensure that it reflects current elective surgery practice and areas of policy interest. Approximately 65% of removals do not fall into one of the defined Indicator procedures. The HPPPC is undertaking a review of elective surgery policy, listing practices and reporting. The Committee is commissioning a consultancy to: · review of existing models for listing and reporting booked surgery, nationally and internationally · develop a series of options for the development of models for booked surgery · Prepare a report outlining the findings from the review and options for models and recommendations for enhancing booked surgery policy, listing practices and reporting. The HPPPC review may result in recommendations for incremental data development, and revisions to performance reporting on waiting times for elective surgery. Work is also required to improve the identification of Indigenous Australians within this the NHMD data. |
| Other issues caveats: | Coverage of elective surgery episodes in public hospitals is not complete (91% in 2007–08) and varies by state and territory and by hospital peer group.
For two jurisdictions with the National Elective Surgey Waiting Time Data Collection, the waiting time for patients transferred between waiting lists may not be complete. Disaggregations within individual jurisdictions are subject to data quality considerations. Some disaggregations may result in numbers too small for publication. There is considerable debate about measures of waiting for elective surgery. See the AIHW 2008 Elective surgery in Australia: new measures of access report for further background. The quality of data on Indigenous status, taken from the NHMD, is not considered to be adequate for analysis purposes for the ACT and Tasmania. |
Source and reference attributes | |
| Reference documents: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2009. Australian hospital statistics 2007–08. Health services series no. 33. Cat. no. HSE 71. Canberra: AIHW. http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10776 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008. Elective surgery in Australia: new measures of access. Cat. no. HSE 57. Canberra: AIHW. http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10596 |
Relational attributes | |
| Related metadata references: | See also National Healthcare Agreement: P45-Rates of services: Overnight separations, 2010
See also National Healthcare Agreement: P58-Patient satisfaction/experience, 2010
Has been superseded by National Healthcare Agreement: PI 34-Waiting times for elective surgery, 2011
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