Waiting times for cancer treatment

Abstract

Richard Motley's response assumes that, like supply, the demand for surgery is finite. This is clearly not the case. Despite a large increase in the number of surgeons, and a commensurate increase in the number of operations carried out in England over the past three decades, waiting lists have altered little. The phenomenon of the amount of supply being a key determinant of the level of demand can also be seen in comparisons with the US, where much higher provision of services results in surgical rates approximately twice those in the UK. This is why current 309