Blame the Individual
We regularly hear of quality incidents in our health service through the media. It would be nice to think that the ‘individual responsible’ will be offered any support to deliver his or her recommendations to improve this situation. However, the political response usually suggests that the problem lies with individuals. It doesn’t seem to question the process or systems.
So what is the process? Whether it is a 91-year-old patient or any other person in need of medical attention, is our process getting better or worse? Are the measures we use in our hospitals centred around patient care and patient outcomes? Who is responsible?
A Lean Healthcare Approach
Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to David Fillingham in Cork. I learned that he had worked at Pilkingtons in St Helens (the location of my first post with Courtaulds in the UK) and joined the NHS in 1989. He spent 6 years as Chief Executive at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Whilst working here, he introduced ‘lean’ principles to empower staff and involve patients to improve quality of care. I visited Bolton hospital a few years ago and spoke to the staff involved in their lean programmes.
- Through Value Stream Mapping staff transformed outcomes for stroke patients.
- Collaborative work with new mothers helped re-design the maternity unit.
- Laboratory staff reduced the wait on test results from 24 hours to one hour. Consequently, this delivered quicker decisions on outcomes and released precious beds earlier.
More engineering into a windscreen compared to healthcare
Interestingly, David said that a lot more process engineering went into producing a windscreen at Pilkingtons than into the patient processes in the NHS. Unfortunately, the hard-working staff in our HSE are working with little support or budget to develop their processes. My view is that the best solutions to most issues come from the staff engaged daily in the processes in any organisation. They need a safe environment and supportive leadership to deliver great outcomes.
“A lot more process engineering went into producing a windscreen at Pilkingtons than into the patient processes in the NHS”
Learn more about Lean Business and current supports available. The ETAC Lean Business Programme run regularly – check out the latest project-based programme offerings.
Give your staff the right training and tools to deliver great results. Make a start with a Lean Business training programme.
Past participants have reported a significant impact on teamwork, quality and waste within their businesses and delivered an average return of €15,000 per project.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our views on who is responsible for our healthcare. You may also be interested in reading about our insights on Does Everyone know the Score and the best start to problem solving. Read all our blogs. Please connect with us on Linkedin and Twitter.
