[What determines waiting time for cataract surgery, knee arthroscopy and total hip arthroplasty and how satisfied are the patients?].

OBJECTIVE

To gain an insight into the waiting periods for cataract, arthroscopic knee and total hip operations and the patients' opinion on this subject.

DESIGN

Retrospective study.

SETTING

The district of Groningen, the Netherlands.

METHOD

A study population of 300 national health insurants who underwent a cataract operation (100), an arthroscopic knee operation (100) or a total hip operation (100) in 1992 and 50 private insurants who underwent a cataract operation in 1992, was obtained by a select sampling. By a structured questionnaire, information about basic variables (age, gender, education, occupation, perceived urgency and form of insurance), waiting periods and opinions on the waiting periods was gathered.

RESULTS

The waiting periods between the specialist consultation and the operation were 5.2 and 7 months for eye, knee and hip patients respectively. The waiting period per hospital varied from 4-7 months for an eye operation, 1-4 months for a knee operation and 2.5-12 months for a hip operation. The waiting period was not affected by basic variables, except the waiting period for hip operation which benefited from a high urgency declaration by the specialist. 60% of the eye patients, 45% of the knee patients and 47% of the hip patients were satisfied about the waiting period. 15% of all patients were dissatisfied about it.

CONCLUSION

Waiting periods for operations in this study were not determined by patient-specific basic variables, varied strongly between hospitals and did not cause discontent among the majority of the patients, despite durations of mostly several months.