The use of the waiting list in a fair selection of patients for nursing home care

When health care resources are scarce, waiting lists may be used as a distribution measure in order to enhance the fair allocation of resources through selection of patients. In this study, the structure and use of a waiting list for a fair selection of patients for nursing home admission was studied. Qualitative research took place in two regions in the Netherlands, where scarcity exists in nursing home care. Selection meetings were attended and 39 health care workers were interviewed. Not only did waiting list criteria like urgency and chronology determine the final selection decision, but also efficiency and quality of care considerations (patients' preferences for particular nursing homes and nursing homes' considerations of matching the unit and work load). These considerations, their relative importance, and the resulting need for enforcement of the decision;making procedures, should be part of the discussion of patient selection. This acknowledges the complexity of the selection of patients.