Lean in diagnostics

Over the past three years the NHS Improvement Diagnostics Team have been working with a number of pathology pilot sites to test Lean methodology, to demonstrate the benefits both to pathology and the impact on the wider healthcare system using this methodology. This approach has been extremely successful and is being widely adopted in many pathology labs and clinical settings (for examples of this visit the pathology case studies).

We are now applying Lean thinking in radiology and cytology pilot sites across the country and will be sharing the learning and outcomes of this work.

Teams will be trained to:

• understand and identify waste
• apply Lean principles to improve flow
• test out ideas to ensure changes make the improvement required before implementation (Plan, Do, Study, Act).
• use data to demonstrate the impact of the improvement
• put the patient at the heart of the process.

The outcomes of this work will be to demonstrate evidence based improvements for the benefit of patients and staff in:

• Delivery turnaround times
• Quality and safety
• Efficiency
• Morale.

"Bringing Lean to life"

We all come to work to do our very best. To achieve what we are capable of and to add real value to our jobs - no one wants to get it wrong. However, the reality is that everyday mistakes have become all too common in the workplace, especially in the health service. Healthcare teams are dedicated and skilled professionals who are often under pressure to do their best and work terrifically hard – but often with inadequate processes.

The ‘processes’ are to blame not the people

Bringing Lean to Life "Bringing Lean to Life" provides a basic introduction and overview of Lean; the culture, principles and tools to understand, tackle and resolve issues within healthcare. It is not intended as a complete guide to implementing Lean as a management system.