Health encyclopaedia

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Policy guidelines of Hospitals, admission

waiting times for hospital treatment varies depending on the type of admission, but action is being taken to reduce waiting times across the board. The waiting time for outpatients should be no longer than 26 weeks, but already more than seven out of ten patients are seen within 13 weeks of referral.  Once at the outpatient clinic, you should be seen within 30 minutes of your appointment time.

Inpatients should expect to wait no longer than 18 months for a bed, but more than three out of four inpatients are admitted to hospital within three months of referral. If your doctor or dentist refers you urgently with suspected cancer, you will be seen by a specialist within two weeks. If you are suffering from chest pains and angina is suspected, you will be admitted to specialist chest pain clinic within two weeks.

At the moment, your doctor, dentist or optician decides which hospital and consultant you are referred to. Under a new Patient Choice programme, patients waiting over six months for surgery may soon have the choice to move to a different hospital. From December 2005, patients who need surgery will be offered a choice of four or five hospitals for treatment.

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