Driving efficiency via a ‘different’ approach

Have worked with the Trust’s estates and facilities management team to bring a “leaner” approach to its activities, in the process improving efficiencies and reducing waste at the Torbay Hospital.

 Many estates and facilities professionals are aware of the application of “lean” processes to the “productive” ward or theatre, but much less is known about how to apply “lean” to the diverse and complex range of services within estates and facilities operations. This article provides an overview of how “lean” principles and “Systems Thinking” have been applied at Torbay Hospital in Devon within the Estates and Facilities Directorate to remove waste, drive change, achieve efficiencies, and improve effectiveness. While we describe a process that has helped deliver significant service improvement – reflecting the potential for use by other NHS service providers – it is important to recognise that the work outlined marks the beginning for estates and facilities services at the South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and not the end result of the process, which is, by nature, iterative and continuous. South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs Torbay Hospital – a medium-sized acute hospital which serves the South Devon area. The Trust’s catchment area covers 300 square miles – from South Dartmoor to the length of coastline which stretches from Dawlish, at the mouth of the River Exe, past the Teign and Dart estuaries, and up to Dartmouth. Torbay Hospital serves a resident population of approaching 300,000 people, but with the addition of as many as 100,000 visitors at any one time during the summer holiday season. Established in 1991 as South Devon Healthcare, the Trust subsequently became one of the first Foundation Trusts, in 2007.

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