Sign in

Reducing waits in elective care

How can we work together to reduce waiting times for elective care? Q Lab helped five health care teams to tackle the challenge in new ways.

Q Lab brought people together between August 2023 and May 2024 to explore how we could create collective responsibility to reduce delays in elective pathways.  Five test teams applied the process to challenges in their settings, with positive results.

Background to the Lab

Our topic for the Q Lab in 2023/24 was: how can we create collective responsibility to reduce delays in elective pathways?

Waiting lists and wait times for NHS elective care are at unsustainable levels. Timely, efficient, and safe care relies on collaboration and flow along pathways. There’s already good work going on across the health system, but pressures on the system can get in the way of solutions and shared ownership of the problem.

We have been working with members on the issues of waiting lists and access to care for several years. Q Lab offers a proven approach to working together to make progress on complex health and care challenges like this.

See our insight work around waiting lists

What we did

The Lab began in August 2023 and worked together over nine months to explore, learn, innovate and test around the topic of reducing delays in elective pathways. 

Test teams

From applications to join this Q Lab, we selected and provided funding to four test teams looking to participate to help tackle specific challenges in their settings. 

  • Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Wales. Wanted to reduce waits for people suspected of having head or neck cancer. 
  • South Docs Services. Sought to improve the flow of patients through the urology pathway across Birmingham.
  • Pain Management Service, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. Aimed to reduce waiting times for patients living in pain who rely on high doses of opiates. 
  • Paediatric Department, University College London Hospitals. Sought to reduce non-attendance for appointments at a young people’s rheumatology clinic. 

The teams joined a series of workshops with industry professionals, academics and patients to build knowledge, generate ideas, test, and learn from innovative interventions. 

Each test team was allocated a volunteer co-researcher with relevant experience. They were selected from applicants to support the test teams on their journey by contributing their unique perspectives and helping them to capture and share their insights. 

The approach

The Lab process followed the double diamond’ approach.[ref]Design Council. The Double Diamond. [/​ref] This well-established format for design and innovation breaks the process down into four stages.

  • Discover. Taking time to understand the problem in detail, rather than making assumptions.
  • Define. Using this understanding to define the challenge being faced. 
  • Develop. A creative process to generate new ideas in response to our clearly defined problem. 
  • Deliver. Testing and refining new solutions. 
The Double Diamond is a design process that consists of four stages: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. The Double Diamond is a visual representation of the Human-Centred Design (HCD) framework.
Double Diamond design process 

There is often a temptation in improvement and innovation to jump to solutions and actions. This can be especially true when there are immediate delivery pressures, as we are seeing in the health and care system right now. But it is also important to know when to slow down.

Sarah Rae, co-researcher with Q Lab
Read Sarah Rae’s blog about this Q Lab

Explore the outcomes

Through Q Lab, each of the five test teams developed a new understanding of the issues they brought to the process. They identified and navigated barriers to improvement and tested improvement measures in their settings, some of which have had a significant impact on quality of care.

Naturally, the test teams are at different stages of their projects. You can read a summary of progress below. 

Contact Q Lab

Contact us about Q Lab at Qlab@health.org.uk 

Discover more

  • How can we build staff and patient trust and confidence in tech-enabled remote monitoring? Q Lab worked with the NHS to explore sustainable models to be scaled across the health and care system. 
  • How can care be improved for people living with both mental health problems and back and neck pain? Q Lab brought people together to explore the issues and identify solutions. 
The Health Foundation

Q is led by the Health Foundation and supported by partners across the UK and Ireland

email hidden; JavaScript is required
Q, The Health Foundation, 8 Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8AP
© 2024 The Health Foundation
Website: William Joseph