CASE STUDY - In the past two years, the Consorci Sanitari del Garraf, a 433-bed public healthcare organization near Barcelona, experienced a lean turnaround. Basing her reflections on LGN's Lean Transformation Model, Cristina Fontcuberta Adalid of the Instituto Lean Management gives us an overview of the key building blocks of the transformation, of the approach followed from the very beginning, and of the results achieved up to now.
Words: Cristina Fortcuberta Adalid, Instituto Lean Management
Corsorci Sanitari del Garraf has a long tradition of focus on patient care and of good working practices, and there is no doubt this pre-existing culture helped the organization to embrace lean thinking so successfully in the past couple of years.
In both 2012 and 2013, CSG made the Top 20 list of the best-managed hospitals in Spain, and in January it was awarded the Abedis Donabedian recognition for hospital quality excellence. Both are extremely sought-after accolades here in Spain. So how did the organization achieve such great results? To understand this, we can analyze CSG's journey using the Lean Transformation Model as a framework.
Scroll down and you will be able to see an A3 I drew - it will give you an overview of the transformation. Further below there are short explanations of each of the building blocks of a lean transformation as they took shape at Consorci Sanitari del Garraf.
But first, some background information:
Now that we have made introductions, let's get into the lean transformation. Here's my A3 of the Corsorci's transformation, looked at from the perspective of the Lean Transformation Model (each section is available in a larger format below).
- Situational Approach
- Basic thinking driving the transformation
The implementation of lean thinking at CSG is based on the following key aspects:
Here's what Lean Manager, Rosa Maria Simón, said: "One of the major objectives for CSG is to transform processes so that they can create value, provide high quality care and give optimal accessibility to our patients. Achieving this while in tough economic times is impossible without the participation of every person involved in the value chain. People are the number one source of value in our organization."
- Capability development & the role of leadership
When you are deploying lean management techniques and principles, developing the capabilities of people is one of the things you can never go without. CSG was aware of this from the very beginning and knew that people development would contribute greatly to overcoming resistance.
After a few months, staff behavior started to change as everyone began to understand what lean was about (and maybe, more importantly, what it wasn’t about). The picture on the left shows a page from the organization’s internal monthly magazine. In the article shown on the page, the Diagnosis Service team talks about their experience using lean principles and tools and share their point of view and how the changes directly affected them.
Over the entire course of the transformation, the active role of leadership has contributed to the achievement of good results. The project has been supported enthusiastically, down to the level of every decision and implementation of changes. On certain occasions, meetings on CSG’s lean work happened in the presence of some members of the management team.
The organization knows it has a long way to go in its lean implementation, but it’s also encouraged by the great start it experienced.
- Process improvement
Process improvement at CSG follows the PDCA philosophy and is supported by the use of lean tools, such as A3s, value stream mapping, 5S, standardization or precedence diagrams.
The criteria used to select the first project (which had to be small, visible, easy to complete, assigned to a highly motivated team, etc.) were critical to its success, as it represented the early gains that gave the organization the traction it needed to expand the reach of its lean implementation.
The steps are the same in each project. Here they are:
The A3 is a tool that guides the development of the entire project.
THE AUTHOR
Cristina Fontcuberta Adalid
Instituto Lean Management, Spain
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