Implementing production planning processes in health care – a case study of a surgery clinic

Other conference contribution, 2012

This paper deals with the problems of production planning and control within healthcare, and the immature state of this area within healthcare. The paper reports on the first phase of an action research project within a surgery department at a Swedish public hospital group, and reports the problem identification process together with the first implementations of improved processes in relation to PPC. The paper concludes that there is a large discrepancy between the treatments of the area in research, focusing detailed methods, e.g. within scheduling, and the need of the healthcare organizations, due to the immature state. The question posed in this paper is whether more simple models, implemented step-wise, together with a focus on the planning process and the understanding of it, is able to show any early results in terms of, primarily, patient waiting times. The result from the case clearly indicate that this is possible, the quantitative data showing considerable decrease in waiting times both to outpatient appointments and to elective surgery treatment.