This picture appeared in The Times recently, showing that more than 250 different interactions took place to discharge a patient with complex health problems. With the NHS trying to adopt "lean", one process involving a routine blood sample was reduced from 309 steps to 57 with just simple changes.
They want to "improve service by better understanding how patient demand varies, and identifying and removing the valueless activities that create bottlenecks in the system.
Early results of a study in Bolton showed the lean method helped to cut by a third death rates for patients having hip operations, reduced paperwork in the trauma unit by 42%, and halved the amount of space needed by the pathology dept.
The Chief Executive of Bolton hospital trust said "When we started out, some people were very sceptical. But I've never seen anything that energises staff in this way".
The Government keep saying that the NHS must increase productivity and cut waste before they can justify more public funding. At least in this pilot study, hospital chiefs seem to have understood the new definition that Productivity = maximise customer satisfaction and eliminate waste and rework.
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