caa a22 4500 397500033 CHVBK 20180308164530.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161202e199509 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1093/imammb/12.3-4.235 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)oxford-10.1093/imammb/12.3-4.235 Setting up waiting-time targets to satisfy patients: An application of mathematical programming [Elektronische Daten] [Xiao-Ming Huang, Andy Thompson] An out-patient-waiting-time standard has been set up by the government in the Patient's Charter and the standard is supposed to be effective nationwide indiscriminately. This standard is static and does not take into account local variations in patient expectations, patient unpunctualities in keeping their appointments, changing demand, and resource (or budget) constraints. Therefore, it is not surprising that many acute hospitals or Trusts (including the best-known teaching hospitals) have failed to achieve a satisfactory performance against this standard. In this paper, we argue that, while regarding this standard as the government's expectation, local out-patient-waiting-time targets could be set up more comprehensively each year on the basis of prevailing patient expectations, so that the most cost-effective (or optimal) quality is achieved instead of the ideal (or best) quality. We have also developed a mathematical-programming model which can be used to help determine the out-patient waiting-time targets in a systematic way, once the expected degrees of patient satisfaction are specified. A numerical example is provided to illustrate how the model works. © 1995 Oxford University Press Part 2: Provider Issues nationallicence waiting-time targets nationallicence patient satisfaction nationallicence fuzzy concept nationallicence linear programming nationallicence Huang Xiao-Ming Dept. of Healthcare Informatics, Postgraduate Medical School, University of Plymouth Plymouth PL6 8DH, UK aut Thompson Andy Health Management Research Unit, Cardiff Business School, University of Wales Cardiff CF1 3EU, UK aut Mathematical Medicine and Biology: A Journal of the IMA Oxford University Press 12/3-4(1995-09), 235-247 1477-8599 12:3-4<235 1995 12 imammb https://doi.org/10.1093/imammb/12.3-4.235 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1093/imammb/12.3-4.235 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Huang Xiao-Ming Dept. of Healthcare Informatics, Postgraduate Medical School, University of Plymouth Plymouth PL6 8DH, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Thompson Andy Health Management Research Unit, Cardiff Business School, University of Wales Cardiff CF1 3EU, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Mathematical Medicine and Biology: A Journal of the IMA Oxford University Press 12/3-4(1995-09), 235-247 1477-8599 12:3-4<235 1995 12 imammb Metadata rights reserved CC BY-NC-4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-oxford