Waiting times are poor marker for equity

doi:10.1136/bmj.b4066

Published 5 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4066
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4066

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Equity and NHS reforms

Waiting times are poor marker for equity

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Cooper and colleagues determined changes in waiting times forkey elective surgical procedures and how these changes weredistributed across socioeconomic groups as a result of NHS reforms.¹They conclude that the later stages of NHS reforms, includingpatient choice, provider competition, and expanded capacity,did not harm equity. Concerns about inequity arising from patientchoice may not, however, be manifested in waiting times forelective surgery.

Firstly, as the authors concede, measures to drive down waitingtimes for elective treatment became increasingly stringent overthe time analysed because of distinct policy changes from thereforms.² Waiting times will therefore be an insensitive wayof detecting inequity resulting from NHS reforms as hospitalstry to meet shorter waiting time targets. That inequity fallsin such a scenario is not surprising, but little can be inferredabout the impact of more distantly related policies.

Secondly, patients in higher socioeconomic groups may . . . [Full text of this article]

Srinivasa V Katikireddi, specialty registrar in public health medicine¹

¹ Lothian NHS Board, Deaconess House, Edinburgh EH8 9RS

vkatikireddi@yahoo.co.uk

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