A patient may be 'ready for care' or 'not ready for care'. Ready for care patients are those who are prepared to be admitted to hospital or to begin the process leading directly to admission. These could include investigations/procedures done on an outpatient basis, such as autologous blood collection, pre-operative diagnostic imaging or blood tests. Not ready for care patients are those who are not in a position to be admitted to hospital. These patients are either:
- staged patients whose medical condition will not require or be amenable to surgery until some future date; for example, a patient who has had internal fixation of a fractured bone and who will require removal of the fixation device after a suitable time; or
- deferred patients who for personal reasons are not yet prepared to be admitted to hospital; for example, patients with work or other commitments which preclude their being admitted to hospital for a time.

Not ready for care patients could be termed staged and deferred waiting list patients, although currently health authorities may use different terms for the same concepts.

Staged and deferred patients should not be confused with patients whose operation is postponed for reasons other than their own unavailability, for example; surgeon unavailable, operating theatre time unavailable owing to emergency workload. These patients are still 'ready for care'.