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Definition

A clinical assessment of the urgency with which a patient requires elective hospital care, as represented by a code.

Components

Data Element (this item)

Comments

Guide for use:
The classification employs a system of urgency categorisation based on factors such as the degree of pain, dysfunction and disability caused by the condition and its potential to deteriorate quickly into an emergency. All patients ready for care must be assigned to one of the urgency categories, regardless of how long it is estimated they will need to wait for surgery.

Origin:
National Health Data Committee

Comments:
A patient's classification may change if he or she undergoes clinical review during the waiting period. The need for clinical review varies with the patient's condition and is therefore at the discretion of the treating clinician. The waiting list information system should be able to record dates when the classification is changed (metadata item Elective care waiting list episode—category reassignment date, DDMMYYYY).

References

Related content

Relation Count
Input in Derivations 0
Output in Derivations 0
Inclusion in Data Set Specifications 15
Inclusion in Data Distributions 0
As a numerator in an Indicator 9
As a denominator in an Indicator 3
As a disaggregation in an Indicator 4