Future Health Index 2025

Waiting lists, a record worldwide

76% of doctors are confident: artificial intelligence can lighten systems and speed up care pathways

by Francesca Cerati

3 June 2025

3' min read

Key points

Average wait of two months
Designing Ai around people
Five key actions

3' min read

Long waiting lists to access healthcare are not exclusive to Italy. This is confirmed by Philips' Future Health Index 2025, the largest global study in the sector, which involved some 2000 healthcare professionals and 16 thousand patients in 16 countries. The picture that emerges is clear: all over the world, healthcare systems are under pressure, and patients pay the highest price.

An average wait of two months

According to the report, in more than half of the analysed countries, patients wait on average almost two months for a specialist visit. In Canada and Spain, the time can exceed four months. The global average wait is 70 days, with peaks of 131 days in Brazil, 128 in Spain and 109 in Germany. Even in countries with advanced healthcare systems such as the United Kingdom and the United States, waiting times are 59 and 51 days respectively.

These waits are not only annoying: they are dangerous. 33% of patients reported that their condition worsened because of delays, and more than 1 in 4 ended up in hospital because they did not receive treatment on time. Cardiology patients, in particular, are among the worst affected: they wait on average 20% longer than others and report higher rates of clinical deterioration.

But it is not only patients who suffer. Healthcare professionals complain of increasing administrative burdens and inefficiencies in clinical data management. 77% say they lose valuable time on incomplete or inaccessible information, with one third losing more than 45 minutes per shift. This translates into four working weeks per year taken away from direct patient care.

Designing Ai around people

In this critical scenario, artificial intelligence (Ai) presents itself as a strategic resource that can automate repetitive tasks, improve diagnosis, reduce waiting times and lighten the workload. Seventy-eight per cent of professionals believe that Ai can increase care capacity, while 76% expect a reduction in waiting times. In addition, AHI can support less experienced staff, improving access to care even in disadvantaged areas.

This potential is also confirmed in the words of Andrea Celli, managing director of Philips Italy, Israel and Greece: 'Recent ISTAT data tell us that one Italian in 10 has given up visits or examinations because of long waiting lists. A problem that does not only concern our country, as emerges from the study promoted by Philips. Without urgent action and faced with a projected worldwide shortage of 11 million healthcare workers by 2030, millions of people may not receive timely treatment. As healthcare systems face increasing pressures, artificial intelligence is rapidly emerging as a powerful ally in both reducing the time it takes to perform a diagnostic test and making clinicians' work and care pathways more efficient. It is time to seize the enormous opportunities that technology and Ai offer us, and continue to invest in innovation. Because health is everyone's right and must be preserved'.

However, the report highlights a confidence gap: while 79% of professionals are optimistic about ai, only 59% of patients share this enthusiasm. Confidence drops dramatically when ai enters sensitive clinical areas, such as diagnosis or treatment definition. 52% of patients fear that the use of technology will reduce their interaction time with the doctor.

Five key actions

To close this gap, the report suggests five key actions: designing AID around people, involving patients and operators from the very beginning; fostering human-machine collaboration, keeping the physician at the centre of the decision-making process; demonstrating effectiveness and fairness, with representative and transparent data; establishing clear rules, to ensure safety and accountability; building alliances between sectors, joining forces between healthcare, industry, institutions and citizens.

In short, the challenge is not only technological, but cultural: building trust to transform innovation into care.