Service/Process Improvement using Lean Methodology,

The Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust (UK)

Client Issue: Facing financial issues, RBH asked Synergy to help facilitate a large scale Process Improvement Program.

Solution: We did this by using a logical stepped process, mapping-out existing practice, benchmarking performance & setting targets for implementing change. We also ensured that is it integrated with & supportive of, existing strategies & change initiatives. We believe that no consultants should be allowed to thrust rigid improvement methodologies on you, as the only way to redesign what you’re doing. Whilst Synergy has extensive experience in this area, we help client’s develop their own framework & provide coaching & training in the techniques, so that the staff themselves can make their own changes. Their commitment to sustainable improvement is then increased through ownership, & the focus & pace of change is increased through the use of new tools. There is also the opportunity for robust evaluation & benchmarking for best practice with other organisations.

Outcome: Process improvement involves the fundamental rethinking & radical redesign of organisational processes to achieve dramatic improvement in critical measures of performance. For example, in the NHS (UK): clinical outcomes & the quality of ‘customer care’ that patients receive (service & speed); & subsequent reductions in cost. This isn't a dramatic breakthrough in management thinking, it is simply a refinement of improvement methodologies. It allows us to seize the opportunities that new technologies offer, without making the mistake of applying them to outdated & inefficient processes that we would not choose to design if we started off with a ‘blank sheet of paper’! At RBH we helped the PI Teams to come up with & implement over 100 ‘self-funded’ ideas for service improvement.
A selection of these outcomes can be found on our PI Benefits page.

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