Operating rooms (ORs) are at the heart of surgical care and hospital revenue, yet inefficiencies in workflows, scheduling, and resource utilization continue to hinder productivity – and most importantly, hinder the quality of life of the patients waiting for surgery. ORs account for 35-40% of hospital costs, and with growing patient waiting lists and staffing shortages globally, optimizing efficiency has never been more critical.
This report, commissioned by Proximie and informed by nearly 100 OR experts across the UK and US, highlights challenges within the current OR landscape and offers key strategies that hospitals could implement to maximize OR utilization and deliver more operations for patients without compromising quality of care.
In the US, 7.2 million surgical cancellations each year costs hospital systems an estimated $32.7 billion.
In the UK, 135,000 on-the-day cancellations costs the NHS £400 million annually - 80% of which could have been avoided.
As of late 2024, around 6.28 million individuals in England were on the waiting list for elective care, 3.06 million of whom had been waiting for longer than the 18-week standard.
In the US, the average wait time for a new patient appointment across multiple specialties was 38 days - far exceeding the recommended 14-day benchmark.
Prolonged waiting times for surgical care has an unacceptable impact on patient health and wellbeing, often leading to deteriorating conditions and reduced quality of life.
50% of OR staff report spending over an hour daily resolving scheduling conflicts and equipment or staffing issues.
73% of surveyed OR leaders reported team members leaving due to poor work-life balance, such as late finishes – exacerbating existing workforce shortages that strain healthcare systems.
However, advancements in technology, innovative care models, and smarter strategies provide significant hope for the future. New tools and approaches offer a powerful opportunity to change the way surgical care is delivered - improving efficiency, enhancing staff experience, strengthening hospital sustainability, and ultimately expanding access to life-changing procedures for patients.
Proximie’s partnership with a major US health system, revealed the opportunity to optimize 24% of total OR time, unlocking the potential to:
By harnessing insights from OR experts, five key recommendations for the future were identified to unlock OR capacity, streamline existing processes, and increase throughput:
Leveraging ambient real-time data collection through video technology and integration with advanced AI analytics tools to unlock efficiency opportunities.
Adopting dynamic, data-driven scheduling systems that adjust in real-time based on historical procedure data, surgeon-specific metrics, and patient complexity.
Implementing standby patient systems to fill gaps caused by last-minute cancellations.
Automating communication between departments to better anticipate demand, optimize scheduling, and remove barriers to timely treatment.
Using innovative training and evaluation techniques such as video-based case review to drive better surgical outcomes and workforce development.
