A Mathematical Modelling Approach for Systems Where the Servers Are Almost Always Busy | Zendy

Christina Pagel | Zendy; David Richards | Zendy; Martin Utley | Zendy

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A Mathematical Modelling Approach for Systems Where the Servers Are Almost Always Busy

Author(s) -

Christina Pagel,

David Richards,

Martin Utley

Publication year - 2012

Publication title -

computational and mathematical methods in medicine

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462

H-Index - 48

eISSN - 1748-6718

pISSN - 1748-670X

DOI - 10.1155/2012/290360

Subject(s) - queue , computer science , service (business) , throughput , variance (accounting) , queueing theory , mental health , referral , mode (computer interface) , server , operations research , simple (philosophy) , computer network , medicine , psychiatry , mathematics , human–computer interaction , nursing , telecommunications , philosophy , business , economy , accounting , epistemology , economics , wireless

The design and implementation of new configurations of mental health services to meet local needs is a challenging problem. In the UK, services for common mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression are an example of a system running near or at capacity, in that it is extremely rare for the queue size for any given mode of treatment to fall to zero. In this paper we describe a mathematical model that can be applied in such circumstances. The model provides a simple way of estimating the mean and variance of the number of patients that would be treated within a given period of time given a particular configuration of services as defined by the number of appointments allocated to different modes of treatment and the referral patterns to and between different modes of treatment. The model has been used by service planners to explore the impact of different options on throughput, clinical outcomes, queue sizes, and waiting times. We also discuss the potential for using the model in conjunction with optimisation techniques to inform service design and its applicability to other contexts.

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