A spreadsheet and a lot of hopeful phone calls
Your donor coordinator keeps the waiting list. It is a spreadsheet with patient names, the date they joined, their preferences, what paperwork is complete and a notes column that has grown over the years. Patients ring every few weeks to ask whether there is any news. The coordinator answers each call personally, checks the spreadsheet and gives the same honest answer: not yet.
When the coordinator is on leave, nobody else is confident answering. When a patient's circumstances change, the spreadsheet may or may not be updated.
Why the list is so hard to manage
- The list is held in one person's spreadsheet, not in a shared system.
- Each patient has preferences and paperwork stages that affect where they are in the process.
- Patients receive no regular updates, so they phone to find out.
- Contact with patients is not logged in one place.
- Patients who have paused or changed plans are not always marked as such.
Waiting lists also carry emotional weight. Patients may wait a long time, their circumstances can change, and some decide to stop without telling the clinic. A list that is never checked with the people on it slowly drifts away from reality, and the coordinator ends up making decisions from information that may be months old.
What it costs
The coordinator spends a large part of the week on status calls. Patients waiting for a long time feel forgotten, which damages trust in the clinic. Stale entries make the list look longer than it is. And the knowledge of who is where rests with one person.
| Question | Spreadsheet | Managed waiting list |
|---|---|---|
| Who is waiting and since when? | In the sheet, if up to date | Shown with join date and stage |
| What paperwork is complete? | Notes column | Checklist per patient |
| When did we last contact them? | Not recorded | Every contact logged |
| Has anything changed for them? | Only if they told the coordinator | Periodic check-in asks them to confirm |
| Who can answer a call? | Only the coordinator | Anyone with access |
How we build it
- We move the list into a secure shared system linked to your clinic management system records, with stages you define, such as counselling complete, consents complete and ready.
- Preferences and paperwork are recorded in structured fields rather than notes.
- Patients receive a considerate update on a schedule you set, written by your team, saying where they are in the process in general terms.
- Periodic check-ins ask patients to confirm they wish to stay on the list and that their details are current. Replies update the record.
- Coordinators get prompts when a patient has not been contacted for a while.
- Every call, email and letter is logged, so anyone can answer a question.
The system organises the list and the communication. Matching patients with donors is carried out by your team under your policies and your regulator's rules, and the software does not make or suggest matches.
For coordinators and patients
Patients hear from the clinic regularly and know their place in the process is being kept. The coordinator takes fewer status calls, and colleagues can cover. The list reflects reality, because people confirm their details periodically.
Managers get a truthful picture of demand for donor treatment, which helps with decisions about donor recruitment and about what to tell new enquirers. Because every contact is logged, a patient who asks 'when did I last hear from you?' gets an accurate answer rather than a guess.
Could this help you?
- Your donor waiting list lives in one spreadsheet.
- Patients phone regularly asking for updates.
- Only one person can answer questions about the list.
- Some entries are out of date.
- Contact with waiting patients is not logged.