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Combatting Health Service Delays

Guest Editors:
Katherine Harding
(La Trobe University, Australia)
Alessandro Jatoba (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil)
Yafang Tsai (Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan)



BMC Health Services Research called for submissions to our Collection on Combatting health service delays.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed enormous pressures on the health service, and exacerbated existing delays. In many countries, elective care was suspended, and routine referrals were reduced or stopped. As a result, many health systems experienced delays. Extended waiting times negatively impact patients' health and affect their quality of life. They also lengthen recovery time after surgery.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Katherine Harding, La Trobe University, Australia

Katherine Harding is a Principal Research Fellow with La Trobe University, and Manager of the Allied Health Clinical Research Office at Eastern Health, one of the largest providers of public health services Melbourne, Australia. She has research interests in health services research and implementation science, with a particular focus on evidence based approaches for managing demand and reducing waiting time for community and outpatient services. 


Alessandro Jatoba, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil

Alessandro Jatoba is a professor and research lead at the Center for Strategic Studies of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil, where he leads the Group for Technology, Information, and Resilience in Public Health (ResiliSUS). He is also a professor of Resilience in Healthcare at the Fluminense Federal University. His research enables healthcare providers to draw solutions that encompass fair and sustainable policies, processes, and technologies applied to the management of resources and coordination of care to respond to current and emerging needs, especially in low and middle-income countries.


Yafang Tsai, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan

Dr Yafang Tsai is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management of Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan. Tsai got two PHD degrees, one in Health Policy and Management and the other in Management. Graduated from National Taiwan University and National Yunlin University of Science & Technology. Dr Tsai is primarily involved in health care management, healthcare marketing, organizational learning, and patient experience. She has published works in international journals, including Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing, BMC Health Services Research, International Nursing Review, Industrial Marketing Management and so on. Dr Tsai has previously worked in the management department of a medical center in Taiwan.






About the collection

BMC Health Services Research is calling for submissions to our Collection on Combatting health service delays

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous pressures on the health service, and has exacerbated existing delays. In many countries, elective care was suspended, and routine referrals were reduced or stopped. As a result, many health systems are experiencing delays. Extended waiting times negatively impact patients' health and affect their quality of life. They also lengthen recovery time after surgery.

In this collection, we welcome the submission of research articles that address delays in any part of the health care journey, from primary and community care through to emergency services and surgery. Analysis of eHealth, mHealth and digital initiatives to address delays will also be considered.


(Image credit: vm)

  1. During the COVID-19 pandemic, provision of non-COVID healthcare was recurrently severely disrupted. The objective was to determine whether disruption of non-COVID hospital use, either due to cancelled, postpon...

    Authors: Tessa Jansen, Sigur Gouwens, Lotta Meijerink, Iris Meulman, Lisanne H. J. A. Kouwenberg, G. Ardine de Wit, Johan J. Polder, Anton E. Kunst and Ellen Uiters
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:294
  2. The Coordinated medical Care (CoCare) project aimed to improve the quality of medical care in nursing homes by optimizing collaboration between nurses and physicians. We analyze the impact of the CoCare interv...

    Authors: Klaus Kaier, Boris A. Brühmann, Stefan Fetzer, Rieka von der Warth and Erik Farin-Glattacker
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:203
  3. Lockdown measure has been utilized widely to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic transmission and recently during the 2022 Sudan Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Uganda. These have setback effects on the continuity of e...

    Authors: Mudarshiru Bbuye, Stella Zawedde Muyanja, Isaac Sekitoleko, Roma Padalkar, Nicole Robertson, Madeline Helwig, Dennis Hopkinson, Trishul Siddharthan and Peter Jackson
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:52
  4. With the escalating burden of chronic disease and multimorbidity in India, owing to its ageing population and overwhelming health needs, the Indian Health care delivery System (HDS) is under constant pressure ...

    Authors: Moonis Mirza, Madhur Verma, Arun Aggarwal, Sidhartha Satpathy, Soumya Swaroop Sahoo and Rakesh Kakkar
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:42
  5. The COVID-19 pandemic engendered numerous societal and economic challenges in addition to health-related concerns. Maintenance of healthcare utilization assumed immense significance during this period. However...

    Authors: A. Hajek, E. Petersen, I. Schäfer, V. Harth, U. Koch-Gromus, M. Härter, H. Schulz, M. Scherer and H.H. König
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:32
  6. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted healthcare systems throughout the world. Many patients faced delays and cancellation of care due to scaled back services, mobility restrictions, a...

    Authors: Serine Sahakyan, Diana Muradyan, Aida Giloyan and Tsovinar Harutyunyan
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:20
  7. Despite growing evidence of the potential of arts-based modalities to translate knowledge and spark discussion on complex issues, applications to health policy are rare. This study explored the potential of a ...

    Authors: Sara A. Kreindler, Mikayla Hunter, Graham W. Lea, Mandy Archibald, Kendra Rieger, Christina West and Shaikh Mehdi Hasan
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2024 24:13
  8. Up to 75% of residents from residential aged care facilities (RACF) are transferred to emergency departments (ED) annually to access assessment and care for unplanned or acute health events. Emergency departme...

    Authors: Carla Sunner, Michelle Giles, Jean Ball, Roslyn Barker, Carolyn Hullick, Christopher Oldmeadow and Maralyn Foureur
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1429
  9. Performance assessment of the Stroke Pathway is a key element in healthcare quality. The aim of this study has been to carry out a retrospective assessment of the Stroke Pathway in a first level Stroke Unit in...

    Authors: Jacopo Camporesi, Silvia Strumia, Andrea Di Pilla, Matteo Paolucci, Diego Orsini, Chiara Assorgi, Maria Gabriella Cacciuttolo and Maria Lucia Specchia
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1391
  10. While the number of medical images has increased substantially, the demand has outpaced access, resulting in long wait times in many countries. Long wait times are a key problem for patient safety and quality ...

    Authors: Bjørn Hofmann, Ingrid Øfsti Brandsaeter and Elin Kjelle
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1287
  11. Strategies to achieve efficiency in non-operating room locations have been described, but emergencies and competing priorities in a birth unit can make setting optimal staffing and operation benchmarks challen...

    Authors: Grace Lim, Annamarie J. Lim, Beth Quinn, Brendan Carvalho, Mark Zakowski and Grant C. Lynde
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1147
  12. Uninsured and underinsured patients face specialty care access disparities that prevent them from obtaining the care they need and negatively impact their health and well-being. We aimed to understand how maki...

    Authors: Lauren Bifulco, Lynsey Grzejszczak, Idiana Velez, Tracy Angelocci and Daren Anderson
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1133
  13. Colon cancer is an important cause of mortality related to cancer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an important reallotment of assistance resources was necessary to tackle the crisis, directly impacting medical ...

    Authors: Raquel Pucci de Oliveira, Pedro Henrique Rezende de Moraes and Ana Paula Drummond-Lage
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1102
  14. Delays in preventative service uptake are increasing in the UK. Universal, comprehensive monthly outreach by Community Health and Wellbeing Workers (CHW), who are integrated at the GP practice and local author...

    Authors: Cornelia Junghans, Grazia Antonacci, Alison Williams and Matthew Harris
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:1092
  15. Delayed access to outpatient care may negatively impact on health outcomes. We aimed to evaluate implementation of the Specific Timely Appointments for Triage (STAT) model of access in an epilepsy clinic to re...

    Authors: Annie K. Lewis, Nicholas F. Taylor, Patrick W. Carney, Xia Li and Katherine E. Harding
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:933
  16. Indigenous Australians experience significant socioeconomic disadvantage and healthcare disparity compared to non-Indigenous Australians. A retrospective cohort study to describe the association between rates ...

    Authors: Tim Cheok, Morgan Berman, Richard Delaney-Bindahneem, Matthew Phillip Jennings, Linda Bray, Ruurd Jaarsma, Pradeep Mathew Poonnoose, Kanishka Williams and Narlaka Jayasekera
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:874
  17. COVID-19 has disrupted maternal and child health services. Community Health Workers (CHWs) supported the women by visiting pregnant women's homes and providing the MCH services as required. This study attempts...

    Authors: Preeti Dhillon, Sayeed Unisa, Ajay Gupta, Abhishek Saraswat, Sulaiman KM and Sarang Pedgaonkar
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:864
  18. In Brazil, despite advances in public health policies aimed at eliminating and controlling infectious and parasitic diseases, the incidence of neglected diseases is still high. The epidemiological scenario in ...

    Authors: Glenda R. O. N. Ferreira, Amanda L. C. Miranda, Viviane A. Farias, Melissa B. Martins, Débora Talitha Neri, William D. Borges, Carlos Leonardo F. Cunha, Geyse Aline R. Dias, Dirceu C. Santos and Fabianne J. D. Sousa
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:825
  19. The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in care-seeking due to fears of infection and decreased healthcare access globally. These delays have been linked in some countries to COVID-19 perceptions, decreased income...

    Authors: Natalie E. Conboy, Andre Nickow, John Koku Awoonor-Williams and Lisa R. Hirschhorn
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:785
  20. There is a serious shortage of clinical pharmacists in Xinjiang, China. A six-month to one-year on-the-job training programme can rapidly transition nonclinical pharmacists into clinical pharmacists to resolve...

    Authors: Tiantian Kong, Yuankai Huang, Xin Chen and Wenbing Yao
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:685
  21. In 2020, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau funded an initiative to promote implementation of rapid antiretroviral therapy initiation in 14 HIV treatment settings across the U.S...

    Authors: Beth Bourdeau, Starley B. Shade, Kimberly A. Koester, Greg M. Rebchook, Wayne T. Steward, Bruce M. Agins, Janet J. Myers, Son H. Phan and Marlene Matosky
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:503
  22. Timely diagnosis of oral cancers is critical, and performing biopsies of oral lesions with suspected malignancy is a crucial step in achieving this goal. The waiting time for the diagnosis may be related to th...

    Authors: Alessandro Diogo De-Carli, Amanda Ramos da Cunha, Gleyson Kleber do Amaral-Silva, Jader Vasconcelos, Mara Lisiane de Moraes dos Santos and Livia Fernandes Probst
    Citation: BMC Health Services Research 2023 23:461

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, SNAPP. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Combatting Health Service Delays" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published. 

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.