Theatre time utilisation in elective orthopaedic surgery.

A prospective review of theatre time utilisation of the senior author's elective orthopaedic lists was carried out over a period of 10 weeks. A total of 41 cases were included. Only 54.0% of theatre time was utilised for operating. The anaesthetic time was 12.0%, and 9.3% of theatre time was used for positioning and draping. Delays in starting the list and turnover time accounted for the remaining 25%.