Waiting for Specialists: A Multi‐Priority and Multi‐Speciality Analysis

Pedro G. Rodrigues, Maria João Bárrios and Marta S. G. Mendes

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2025, vol. 40, issue 6, 1248-1278

Abstract: Managing waiting times for specialist consultations is a critical challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. This study examines how hospitals manage outpatient specialist consultations through multi‐priority systems, analysing nearly a million consultations across 29 medical specialities at a major Portuguese hospital (2010–2019). Using fixed‐effects models with Driscoll‐Kraay standard errors, we investigate how operational factors affect waiting times for first consultations across three priority levels. Each additional day spent in triage adds 0.52 days to urgent consultation waits (p

Date: 2025
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