Using capacity well.
WHAT DETERMINES THROUGHPUT
Appointment scheduling Waiting time Time per encounter Staff availability
WHAT PATIENTS EXPERIENCE
Waiting, mostly.
WHY IT MATTERS
Waiting is the commonest complaint about health facilities.
WHAT CAUSES EXCESSIVE WAITING
Appointments scheduled without regard to actual duration Overbooking Late starts Bottlenecks at registration, payment or diagnostics
WHAT TO MEASURE
Time from arrival to being seen Time in each stage Duration of encounters, actually
WHY ACTUAL DURATION
Scheduling assumes a time that is frequently wrong.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT BOTTLENECKS
Address the specific stage.
WHAT COMMONLY BOTTLENECKS
Registration Payment Waiting for results
WHAT TO ESTABLISH ABOUT WALK-IN PATIENTS
How they are accommodated alongside appointments.
WHY
Mixing them without a plan destroys the schedule.
WHAT TO CONSIDER
Reserving capacity for urgent cases.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT NON-ATTENDANCE
Measure it, and reduce it.
HOW
Reminders before the appointment.
WHAT TO ACKNOWLEDGE
Waiting patients, with an estimate.
WHY
Acknowledged waiting is tolerated far better than unexplained waiting.
WHAT TO TRACK
Patients seen per session Non-attendance rate Waiting times
WHAT TO REVIEW
Whether scheduling matches reality.
