Journal of Health Services Research & Policy > Volume 14, Number 4 > Pp. 212-218

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Original research

‘There are too many of us to fix.’ Patients' views of acceptable waiting times for hip and knee replacement

Barbara Conner-Spady , Claudia Sanmartin, Geoffrey Johnston ¹, John McGurran ², Melissa Kehler ³, Tom Noseworthy

Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta; ¹ Department of Surgery (Orthopaedics), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; ² Western Canada Waiting List Project, Calgary, Alberta; ³ Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Correspondence to: Barbara.spady{at}ualberta.net

Objectives: To assess patients' views of maximum acceptable waiting times (MAWT) for hip and knee replacement, associated factors and the accuracy of self-reported waiting times.

Methods: We mailed 1000 questionnaires each to two random samples of patients either waiting for or who had received an arthroplasty within the preceding 3–12 months. We used linear regression to assess the determinants of patient MAWT, and content analysis to assess reasons for MAWT and ideal waiting time.

Results: Of the 1330 responses, 1127 had MAWT data. The sample was 57% women; mean age was 70 ± 11 years. Median self-reported and actual waiting time was eight months (Spearman correlation = 0.70). Median MAWT was four months and ideal waiting time was two months. The most frequent reasons for MAWT were pain, quality of life and needing time to prepare for surgery. A longer MAWT was associated with younger age, group (waiting), a longer self-reported waiting time, better EQ-5D index, an acceptable waiting time, a perception of fairness and a view that others worse off on the list should go ahead.

Conclusions: Patients' views of acceptable waiting times are important for a fair process of establishing waiting time benchmarks for joint replacement.

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