Are both parts of a bilateral operation counted on the inpatient waiting list?
Where a patient requires a bilateral operation, for example for cataracts on both eyes, he/she should be added to the elective waiting list for the first operation only. After the first procedure, the patient may be added to the waiting list for the second operation. If this is carried out within a clinically optimum time-scale, they should be classified as ‘planned’, if not, then they should be added to the active list.
