Improving Hospital Productivity

 

As someone who made his money by writing software to plan jobs properly and get them done quicker, there are many things that can be done.

1. Treat the hospital as a factory and analyse delays and problems. Once they are identified small amounts of strategic money often unblock the systems.

2. Use methods as at the James Paget hospital in Great Yarmouth, where teams and equipment are optimised for efficiency.

3. Make sure that all services such as pharmacy, radiotherapy etc. are available when needed.

But the most important thing is to lose the 9 to 5 culture, which means that patients having something like radiotherapy have to take time off work to have it. Work is often something that keeps patients going, so hospitals should fit around it.