Waiting for orthopaedic surgery: factors associated with waiting times and patients' opinion.

OBJECTIVE: To assess waiting times for three groups of orthopaedic patients in Sweden and to identify factors explaining variations in waiting time. Also examined were factors associated with patients' perceptions that waiting times were too long. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING AND STUDY PARTICIPANTS: Patients from orthopaedic units at 10 Swedish hospitals participated in the study. A questionnaire was sent to 1336 surgical patients (517 hip replacement, 321 back surgery, and 498 arthroscopic knee surgery) 3 months after surgery. Information extracted from the hospitals' patient administrative systems was also used. Outcome measures. Length of waiting time, socio-economic variables, hospital type, health-related quality of life, and opinion about waiting time. The data were analysed mainly using regression analyses. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 79%. In all pre-operative stages, waiting times were longest in the hip replacement group. Socio-economic variables were not consistent determinants of variation in waiting times except for working status in the back surgery group where working patients had shorter waiting times than non-working patients irrespective of phase of waiting time. Admission to a county/district county hospital, compared with a university/regional hospital, was associated with shorter time on the waiting list. Patients with better health-related quality of life had significantly longer waiting times for arthroscopic knee surgery by all waiting time measures. The length of wait was a significant predictor of the patients' acceptance of waiting time. Patients' influence over the date of surgery also appeared to affect their opinion about the waiting time. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital-related factors are more important than patient characteristics as explanations of variations in waiting times for orthopaedic surgery. Patients value short waiting times and the possibility of influencing the date of surgery.