Among over 3000 patients undergoing coronary angiography in the absence of
a formal queue-management system, we found that a-priori urgency scores wer
e strongly associated with waiting times, prevalence of coronary-artery dis
ease, rate of revascularisation, and mortality. These data challenge the wi
dely held assumption that such waiting lists are not clinically ordered; ho
wever, the wide variation in waiting times within urgency categories sugges
ts the need for further improvements in clinical queueing.