WAITING lists – we encounter them all the time during our everyday lives, particularly so with NHS appointments and operation and treatment waiting lists/times – therefore, let’s use this as an example.

How many times have we all been told there is a lengthy waiting list? Of course it can also be some time before one is placed on the list and given an appointment.

Why is this so? Notwithstanding the financial constraints, which we all know about, as it’s a well-known fact that the main benefit of ‘going private’ is that you can be seen quicker.

Let’s ask a few questions, do the waiting times/list get less as time goes on? Very doubtful. Do they get longer? Quite possibly, and if this is so then it must mean that more resource is needed to address this.

The more likely scenario is that the waiting times/list fluctuates a little up or down. There could be many reasons for this, but probably if it is let’s say a six week waiting time/list then this may fluctuate between five and seven weeks.

This does not of course take into account the time taken up before being placed on the list, again this can vary quite a bit.

If this last scenario is the more likely one, then should not the objective be to find a way to reduce the waiting time/list down to say a few days? It could be done by utilising resource at weekends or juggling with available resource. For example weekend appointments or utilising equipment at weekends.

One must of course bear in mind the extra cost of this, however, it is possible for it to be a one off cost as once the waiting time/list has been reduced to a manageable level the objective should be to keep it that way.

One last question why is this not done? Possibly for financial reasons, or the more likely reason is that everyone feels very secure if there is a backlog of work or, in the above example, a lengthy waiting time/list.

C D MOYES, Harkwood Drive, Hamworthy