Abstract
Objective:
The current economic and political climate demands a focus on efficiency and productivity, whilst delivering quality, across all aspects of the National Health Service (NHS). Operative theatres act as a critical, yet costly resource. The Audit Commission employs the use of percentage theatre utilisation as a principal measure of NHS operating theatre service and efficiency performance. We analysed theatre utilisation data in a five-consultant, high turnover, urology department within a NHS University Teaching Hospital. Our aim was to examine the relationship between theatre utilisation data, cost effectiveness and income generated.
Patients and methods:
Data on the usage of a dedicated urology theatre was collected over 251 hours for a full calendar month. A total of 176 consecutive procedures were performed. Linear regression analysis was performed to assess the correlation between number of operating hours, cases per hour, utilisation percentages and income generated.
Results:
There was no correlation between percentage theatre utilisation and income (R2=0.0191, p=0.82). No relationship was identified between percentage theatre utilisation and total number of cases performed (R2=0.0001, p=0.99). Although there appeared to be a positive correlation between the number of cases performed and income generated, this was not statistically significant (R2=0.725, p=0.067). Furthermore, there was no association between the number of cases performed per hour and income generated (R2=0.3184, p=0.32).
Conclusion:
Our data identifies no correlation between percentage theatre utilisation, income generated and number of cases performed. Utilisation percentages are not a reliable performance indicator when used in isolation, and therefore should be used as part of a more global picture when assessing cost effectiveness and efficiency performance.
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