Waiting time from the first referral to dermatology (FOI)

​Request 679347193

​I would like to know the median waiting time from the first referral to dermatology to the first offered appointment date at every 5th percentile of the waiting list distribution.

If possible, please provide the data in a tabular format, detailing:

• The 5th, 10th, 15th, ..., 95th percentiles of waiting times.
• The corresponding median waiting time in weeks at each percentile and the number of people waiting.
• Over the last 10 years

Response

Waiting list and waiting time data for an initial (new first) Dermatology appointment for each year of the last 10 years, from 2015 to 2024, is provided as far as records enable. 

The waiting time (in weeks) for all patients who attended an initial (new first) appointment in Dermatology each year, from 2015 to 2024, is detailed in Table 1. The total number of patients who were seen each year is provided, and waiting times are shown in increments of percentiles, as requested, to illustrate the distribution of waits.

Table 1 – Waiting Times from Referral to First Appointment - attached

Table 1.pdf​

Tables 2 and 3 detail the total number of patients waiting for a first (new first) appointment at the end of each year, along with their waiting times up to that point. Table 2 includes data for the period 2019 to 2024, and gives the median and 90th percentile waits, broken down by appointment urgency categorisation (as determined through triage). Table 3 includes data for 2015 to 2018, with the waiting time shown by banded waiting time ranges, as per the reporting limitations of records held for that period.

Table 2 – End-of-Year Waiting List Snapshots, 2019 to 2024 - attached

Table2.pdf

Table 3 – End-of-Year Waiting List Snapshots, 2015 to 2018 - attached

Table 3.pdf​

The median wait is calculated by arranging each patient's waiting time in order, and then selecting the waiting time of the person at the mid-point of that order. Half of all patients on the list have been waiting less than the median wait time and half have been waiting longer than this. Health and Care Jersey reports median waiting times as these are less impacted by outlier values when there are a small number of cases.

Waiting times depend on the urgency determined through triage, the process by which referrals are sorted and prioritised by urgency. Information on referrals and triage, including the prioritisation of appointments, is available on www.gov.je at the following link:​

Hospital waiting lists​