41% of NHS departments have installed self check-in systems to improve queue management, with a further 25% currently considering or implementing one

New study from Qmatic/Vanson Bourne investigates the administrative and patient management challenges facing the world’s largest public healthcare organisation

Milton Keynes, UK – 16 April 2013 - 97% of NHS staff firmly believes that improving patient flow will have a positive influence on a patient’s behaviour according to independent research commissioned by Qmatic and published in a new report titled Queuing and Waiting in the NHS.

In addition to the challenge of queue management, just under half of NHS departments admit they are unsatisfied with the way patients are matched to the most appropriate person or department during the course of their treatment. Described in the report as ‘patient flow’, this 48% of the survey respondents claim that the movement of a patient from one department to another during the many phases of their treatment was as an issue for their department.

With original research undertaken by Vanson Bourne, the independent market research agency, the new Qmatic report investigates the structural and systematic causes of delays and bottlenecks within the NHS, which can negatively impact a patient’s journey through the various departments and services that form their treatment experience. The report is based on 100 interviews of senior IT decision makers and department heads within the NHS between December 2012 and January 2013.

62% of NHS departments admit that improving the way patients are managed through the queuing system when waiting for treatment is a priority for them, reflecting the desire to implement queue management solutions such as self check-in systems. 41% have already done so in some or all areas.

“Managing the flow of patients is the core engine of the NHS – it is the one function that touches every single patient at every stage of their treatment,” states David Anahory, UK CEO at Qmatic. “If just one cog stops turning, then the whole machine starts to stall, undermining the ability of the NHS to deliver the high quality of healthcare that it is known for.”

Improving the patient experience will improve healthcare
According to the survey, NHS staff firmly believes that improving patient flow will have a positive influence on a patient’s behaviour – in fact 97% of those surveyed held this view. Of the dissatisfied NHS departments, the following top benefits were expected from improving patient flow:

Reduced wait times for patients   79%
Reduced aggression in A&E   60%
Less demand at the main reception   52%
Fewer failed appointments   48%
Increased resource utilisation (clinic rooms etc.)   46%
Increased staff productivity (e.g. nurses not directing patients)   44%
Increased seating area utilisation   44%


According to the National Audit Office, the 57,000 physical assaults on medical staff each year costs the NHS £69 million a year in staff absence, loss of productivity and additional security. Cutting aggression has become a real target for the NHS, as outlined in its Reducing Violence and Aggression in A&E by Design (2011) report for the Department of Health. With the benefits outlined by the NHS staff surveyed, the research suggests that improving patient flow could yield significant cost savings to the NHS, while at the same time improving the health and safety of NHS staff.

Queue management systems are proving their worth in the NHS, with 41% of NHS departments having now already installed self check-in systems to improve the patient queuing experience, with a further 25% currently considering or implementing such a solution.

Reception bears the brunt
For most patients, the reception desk is the first port of call when they check into a hospital department. It is also the first place a patient tends to go when faced with an obstacle or grievance so is an excellent barometer of patient satisfaction and the effectiveness of patient flow. At present; general enquiries (64%), patients asking for directions (63%) and patients being in the wrong department/building (52%) are the most commonly observed behaviours at reception, reinforcing the point that patient flow is an issue for many departments within the NHS.

Hurdles to patient flow
When asked specifically about the hurdles faced when trying to improve how patients are linked up with the most appropriate person or department, NHS staff ranked the layout of the building top (46%), followed by the high volume of public visits (37%) and the complexity of the task itself (35%). While the layout of the hospital is not something that can be changed overnight, improvements to signs and the information given to patients before they arrive can certainly help. The high volume of public visits and the complexity of the task of matching patients to the most appropriate resource can be better managed with patient flow management tools.

“With the backdrop of competing priorities, administrative pressures and finite resources, it can be difficult to see how the patient experience can be a priority. Yet managing the flow of patients from one department or service is the one function that touches every single patient at every stage of their treatment,” comments Anahory.

“Improving both the patient’s journey through the NHS and the queuing experience they receive at each stage of their treatment should be a priority for every NHS Trust. Tackling this issue will not only improve the experience for patients during what is usually already a difficult time, but by allocating the appropriate resources to the patient precisely when needed, significant waste can be eliminated from the NHS. This will improve healthcare for everyone and free up resources that can be better used on other areas of patient care.”