Working in the primary areas of Hospital Consultation, Hospital Development & Management, EHS has expertise in planning, commissioning and operating Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary care facilities.
Current research shows that a well-designed healthcare facility contributes significantly to the safe and effective delivery of healthcare and contributes to patients’ positive experience of care, thus promoting their healing and recovery. The physical environment is linked to patient and staff outcomes in three key areas:
The goal of operations management is to ensure the highly reliable performance of all systems, procedures and processes, performance that is both safe and of high quality. Excellence in healthcare delivery requires the ability to develop sound operations and manage for unexpected surprises which are a feature of complex healthcare delivery organisations. Almost by definition, healthcare organisations are hazardous environments. It is only through a process of continuous adaptation, problem solving and improvement that such organisations succeed in meeting the increasing demands for higher quality service delivery.
Operations management in pursuit of excellence in service delivery seeks to identify and eliminate sources of variance. This requires a clear understanding of the nature of the work and how it is accomplished. This is the study and practice of operations management.
Attracting and retaining qualified and experienced professionals is a particular challenge for the healthcare industry. With a continually expanding and aging population, the demand for healthcare services is barely matched by the supply of suitably qualified people. Added to the supply and demand challenges are the spiralling costs of recruiting and selecting suitable candidates from across the world.
One statistic claims that the number of people over the age of 65 is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. Since this age group makes roughly twice as many doctor’s visits as those under 65, this increase is placing huge additional demands on the provision of healthcare services—and on the need to staff such facilities. The number of physician visits by people over the age of 45 has also risen steadily during this time, and there is concern that these trends are likely to continue, despite the increasing costs of medical treatment to the man and women in the street.
While most organisations at some stage or other engage in project management activities, project management in the healthcare industry has certain unique features. The most obvious feature which sets this activity apart in the healthcare industry is that in healthcare, the stakes are significantly higher. We are dealing with issues that could affect the well-being—and survival—of people, our patients.
A project differs from a strategy or an objective or a program in that it has a start and end date (with activities in between), a project leader who is accountable for its progress, and a budget sufficient to achieve its goals. It is important that all stakeholders are aware of these three criteria and are consulted at each step of the project’s progress.
The planning for and provision of medical equipment and supplies provides many challenges, not least of which is the rapid advance in technology which threatens to make equipment obsolete. This equipment, in the first place, may have been extremely expensive to procure. This is why the management of the FF&FE (Furniture & Fittings, Fixtures & Equipment) process should be in the hands of professionals who specialise in this field.
The nature of much of the equipment required in a medical facility is such that its procurement and placement in the facility must be planned in conjunction with the facilities design team. It is a team effort, involving the development of a master FF&E list; budget, inventory and life cycle management; architectural and engineering support; the procurement process; risk management; relocation planning and communication.
