Background: Healthcare systems are increasingly facing budget pressure because of the growth of healthcare demand and the expanding offering of therapeutic options to meet patients’ needs. In this context, the need to invest resources for the Covid-19 emergency is posing an additional challenge, with the result that some interventions needed to be deprioritised, leading to conflicting priorities between different stakeholders. The debate has been primarily on what health needs should be prioritised, with less attention being paid on how the current system to deliver healthcare can be improved and make a more rational use of the resources available. This study aims to identify examples of how improving efficiency of the healthcare systems can increase the health outcomes within existing budget constraints.

Methods: We conducted a structured research of secondary sources on healthcare system inefficiencies in a range of countries between 2018 and 2021. We focused on the main steps of a cancer patient journey, from primary to secondary care, as delays due to the Covid-19 emergency, and their implications, have been widely documented.

Results: The patient journey is not always optimised and there can be several inefficiencies that impact patient outcomes and have consequences for the finances and the use of resources of the healthcare systems. For instance, the lack of awareness and prevention campaigns (or their ineffectiveness) often imply that patients do not seek a visit when they show the first symptoms of a disease, or scarce use of tele-health limits timely access to care where barriers (e.g., Covid-19) delay specialist visits. This has implications for their prognosis but also additional costs to the healthcare system.

Conclusions: By addressing those inefficiencies identified, and seizing the opportunities from the Covid-19 emergency, it is possible to treat more patients while releasing resources that can redirected where there is most unmet need.