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Vol 31 - No 07 - November/December 2005 Editorial : Operations Management in Healthcare Having joined the NHS 3 years ago from a background in manufacturing systems engineering, I have long since been convinced that significant improvements can be achieved in healthcare by applying industry and service sector best practice. In recent years, a lot has been learned in the health sector (both private and the NHS) about patient pathway efficiency. This has largely been driven by The NHS Modernisation Agency (now The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement) teaching organisations about understanding their processes, identifying blockages in the process and removing unnecessary activities. The message, driven long and hard into healthcare, is that we have designed our processes to give us exactly the results that they do. In other words, if we want to get different results we have to change our processes. Whilst to many working in supply chain management this message might seem like an obvious approach; to the health sector it has been less obvious and is a new and often difficult message to accept. In times where there are staff shortages, national target pressures and funding difficulties, the last thing many organisations want to add to the pile is the knowledge that they need to change, and change will often mean that things will get worse before they get better. Let’s face it, it’s easier to continue with what you know and manage it on a short term basis, rather than to do something different for longer term gains when you are less certain of the journey – that’s human nature! The change from The NHS Modernisation Agency to The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has resulted in the learning being largely disseminated to Strategic Health Authority and local health community level. A number of organisations and individuals started to look outside the boundaries of the NHS for other sources of knowledge and experience and attended several IOM seminars and workshops. Coincidentally with sufficient interest shown from this sector the IOM have created the IOM Health Sector Special Interest Group (SIG). The group is made up of healthcare professionals and members of the NHS Modernisation Agency and meets on a regular basis to explore how the IOM can impact and infiltrate the health sector by communicating best practice, techniques and theory. The current pressures on NHS organisations are Patient Choice, Payment By Results and National Tariff for procedures increasing competition between NHS organisations. I welcome the investment that the IOM is making in the health sector to help us in our quest for delivering efficient, high quality patient-centred care whilst helping the health sector succeed. Amanda Hollands – Service Improvement Manager Elective Care Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust. Related Topics:
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