Patients’ experience of waiting for surgery

Waiting times were the most cited reason for dissatisfaction with the UK’s National Health Services. Long waits can have a negative impact on a person’s health-related quality of life. This study used visual methods and interviews to get inghts into patients’ experience of waiting for surgery. Five themes were identified through investigating the whole jounrey leading to an operation: i.e. process, information and communication, autonomy and control, the ‘actual experience of waiting’, and impact. Data mapping results in four key insights which give direction for future intervention to improve patients’ experience of waiting for surgery.