Lord Carter’s review on NHS efficiency has reported that there could be up to £5bn to be saved if hospitals were to adopt standard procedures for what they do, and has explained how a “model hospital” would go about this.
Not only would the benefits come in forms of pure financial reductions in costs, but there are also huge gains to be made in the way the NHS deals with the complete relationship it has with patients.
The examples, including items such as processes for receiving and discharging of patients from their hospital visits, are identified as ones that can benefit from the effect of operating in a fully joined up way. The demarcation between departments within the hospital environment (as well as their supply chain) has capacity to be reduced and softened, and the increased working together of such departments will allow winning outcomes for the NHS as well as the people that it treats.
Standardising approaches across one of the world’s largest organisations would indeed be a challenge without a framework to work to, but IiE’s work with Foundation Hospital Trusts, CCGs and CSUs shows how structured deployment and process efficiency can assist greatly improved results that are becoming ever more important as budgets become pressured.
Use of the IiE Standard has allowed health organisations to establish What Matters Most to all parts of a nationally-delivered vital service. More information about the approaches and tools available can be found here.