The 5 elective services patient flow indicators

1. Districts acknowledge and process more than 90% of all patient referrals in 15 calendar days or less.

A patient and their healthcare provider must be told if they will get a first specialist assessment within 15 calendar days. If a specialist assessment is indicated, it must be provided within 4 months. The goal is that all services appropriately acknowledge and process patient referrals in 15 calendar days or less. 

If a specialist assessment is not offered, the patient should be given alternative care options if applicable.

2. Patients waiting longer than 4 months for their first specialist assessment.

All patients accepted for a first specialist assessment should be seen within 4 months of the date of referral. The goal is to have no patients waiting more than 4 months for a first specialist appointment.

3. Patients waiting without a commitment to treatment whose priorities are higher than the actual treatment threshold.

Patient priority is determined by their level of clinical need and identified with a numerical score. Services should commit to patients with the highest priority and may decide to treat a few additional patients with relatively low priority scores.

The actual treatment threshold is calculated as the 10th centile priority score assigned to all patients treated in the past 12 months. Services should be able to treat all patients above the actual treatment threshold.

This indicator measures the number of patients above the actual treatment threshold who have not been given a commitment to treatment. The goal is to have no patients above the actual treatment threshold without a commitment to treatment.

4. Patients given a commitment to treatment but not treated within 4 months.

All patients given a commitment to treatment should receive it within 4 months. The goal is to ensure no patients with this status remain untreated after 4 months.

5. The proportion of patients treated who were prioritised using nationally recognised processes or tools.

Clinicians have a number of tools available for assigning a priority to patients. Tools that meet specified criteria are registered within the national information system as nationally recognised tools.

This measure indicates the percentage of patients prioritised using national or nationally recognised processes or tools. The goal is to have all patients prioritised using nationally recognised processes or tools.

Key decision points

We measure if a district is meeting performance standards at the following decision points:

  • when a person is first referred for a specialist assessment
  • patient assessment
  • diagnostic tests
  • treatment and follow up
  • the point when a person is returned to the care of their healthcare provider.

Summary of elective services patient flow indicators

The elective services patient flow indicators web tool provides a summary view of the results for each of the ESPIs nationally or for each district over the last 12 months.

Elective services patient flow indicators web tool (external link)

Understanding results in the web tool

Results are given one of 3 status colours.

  • Red — the service is not near the goal set for a particular ESPI.
  • Yellow — the service is near to the goal set for a particular ESPI but has not reached it.
  • Green — the service has met its goal for a particular ESPI.