Theatres

Common challenges are pervasive across Operating Theatres throughout the country, including delayed starts, premature finishes, session overruns, underutilised lists, overstaffing, and understaffing. When examining these issues alongside the achievement of surgical sessions, a spectrum of opportunities becomes evident, which organisations can capitalise on to yield tangible improvements.

Meridian specialises in identifying and addressing these challenges, partnering with organisations to unlock the potential within Operating Theatres. By rectifying inefficiencies and fine-tuning operational processes, we facilitate the realisation of these opportunities. This, in turn, enhances the overall performance of Operating Theatres, leading to improved patient care, optimised resource allocation, and enhanced operational outcomes.

Case Studies: Theatres

Theatres, Outpatients & Radiology Improvement Programme

The analysis was a three-week long study, with a total of 35 days being used. The historic performance and management control systems showed a lack of control of planned and actual activity, expectation and performance.

Multi–Site Theatre Improvement Programme

Meridian embarked upon a programme to align the procedures across all three sites. Included in this work was a refinement of the data capture processes and a full revision of the way the data was used to generate management information.

Theatre Improvement Programme (North West England)

The system and processes in place showed a general lack of control over the inputs and outputs of theatre and an inability to effectively control the available resources, with the result that the service was not achieving its potential in terms of throughput and value for money.

Theatres Improvement Programme (West Midlands)

The organisation had installed various initiatives around its Operating Theatres, but was still struggling to align its capacity with its demand. Many specialties were not fulfilling their contracted levels of activity and as such the Trust was operating with a significant financial deficit.

Theatres Improvement Programme (Ireland)

The hospital as a whole was under significant pressures in terms of access to inpatient beds and the levels of overtime being paid to the nursing team to accommodate poor planning of the theatre lists.

Theatre Improvement Programme

The study showed that while action had been taken to cease additional spend on ‘extra’ outpatient capacity, there was no system in place which assessed the impact of these types of decision.

Endoscopy Improvement Programme

In the previous financial year, the Endoscopy Department under-delivered on their contracted activity, and waiting list initiatives were used to deal with follow up demand. The current system showed a lack of control over activity, expectation, and performance and therefore an opportunity presented itself to the Trust.

Case Studies: Theatres

References