Referral to Treatment Waiting Times
Identifying Attributes
Care Settings
Country
Publishing Organisation
Type of Quality Indicator
IOM Quality Dimension
Domain
Defining Attributes
Definition
Percentage of completed patient pathways against the 18 weeks Referral to Treatment standard (the entire patient journey from receipt of a GP referral, up to the point at which each patient is actually admitted to hospital for treatment).
Numerator
Number of patient journeys within 18 weeks. The clock starts on the date when the referral is received and stops on the date when the treatment starts.
Denominator
Total completed patient journeys.
Exclusions
Fertility treatment obstetrics services; organ and tissue transplantation direct referrals to Allied Health Professionals (AHPs); dental treatment provided by undergraduate dental students; direct access referrals to diagnostic services; mental health services.
Use of Risk Adjustment
Risk Adjustments
None
Stratifications
Data Attributes
Type of Data Collection
Data Collection Methods
Data are collected as an aggregated return via a standard template that is submitted monthly by each NHS Board to Public Health Scotland and includes: number of patients within each specialty that waited less than 18 weeks, number of patients within each specialty that waited over 18 weeks, numbers of patients within each specialty with an unknown wait. These are derived from local systems and methods of linking whole pathways vary between Boards. The Unique Care Pathway Number is designed to link all stages of the patient journey, allowing for the recording of all delays and hence a determination of their wait, along with codes for outcomes following clinical consultations (Clinic Outcome Code recording).
Frequency of Data Collection
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
Reporting Methods
18 Week RTT publication tables and charts are published on the Public Health Scotland website publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment-quarter-ending-30-june-2023/ and Monthly RTT waiting time published on NHS Performs web.archive.org/web/20230518204857/https://www.nhsperforms.scot/