Waiting for health care - new interactive dashboard

-Automatic translation

An interactive dashboard with data on waiting for selected surgical procedures has now been published. The dashboard is based on data submitted by health institutions on the number of patients waiting for selected surgical procedures, the number of completed procedures, and the waiting time for surgery. Waiting time refers to the time that elapses from the time that a patient is assessed as needing the relevant surgery. The dashboard also reads data about the waiting list for joint replacement surgery from a central database of waiting lists.

The purpose of the dashboard is to make information on waiting for surgery more accessible so that users of health services are informed and that government and health institutions can make informed decisions. In this way, it is possible to promote improvements within the health service, as stated in the Plan for Quality Development in Health Services 2019-2030.

The prerequisite for publishing information on waiting for surgical procedures is that health institutions submit data when the office calls for it. The hope is that the health institution will in the future record waiting list data in electronic medical records that will send data in real-time to a central database of waiting lists. This registration has already started at many institutions and tests are ongoing.

In recent years, the Directorate of Health has called for data on waiting for surgery twice a year. The last data recall was in January of this year, so the latest data in the dashboard show the number of people waiting for surgery in January 2023, as well as the number of operations performed in 2022. No data was received from Lentis ehf. about cataract surgery in the last data recall.

The dashboard will be updated following each data recall. The next data recall is planned for the autumn of this year.

Further information:
Kjartan Hreinn Njálsson, assistant to the Medical Director of Health
kjartan.h.njalsson@landlaeknir.is