Insight
Great potential for future optimization in Hospital Logistics
Hospital Logistics has been neglected for many years, and there is a great potential for future optimization.
Insight
Hospital Logistics has been neglected for many years, and there is a great potential for future optimization.
Hospital Logistics has largely been neglected for several years, and this could affect efficiency and costs in the health sector adversely. But with billions being invested in new hospitals there is a great potential for opportunities and future optimization within this field.
Billions are being invested in new hospitals worldwide, and this represents a great opportunity for addressing old existing problems in the hospital sector. One such issue is Hospital Logistics.
Generally speaking, Hospital Logistics - or broader Supply Chain for Hospitals - is an area that has largely been neglected for many years. Therefore the potential for future optimization is all the greater.
Hospital Logistics has in many cases not been given the necessary attention, and has not even been labeled “logisitics” at management level. Consequently Hospital Logistics has been reduced to being handled in a practical manner in the basements and tunnels of the hospital.
"Hospital Logistics - or broader Supply Chain for Hospitals - is an area that has largely been neglected for many years."
Claus Fabricius
This has resulted in an unclear organization of logistics, diffuse roles and responsibilities, non-optimal work flows, lack of efficient IT support, etc.
This could potentially affect the costs and efficiency of the hospitals adversely, and consequently also the health sector at large.
Therefore it is essential to highlight some important areas linked to Hospital Logistics – areas that must be taken into account when designing “Hospital Logistics of the future”.
Today, a typical hospital has to deal with several non-coordinated supply chains, which are supported by different IT-systems that are non-aligned.
Consequently, supply chains on goods flows such as consumer items, medicine, food, uniforms etc., are not linked together. This means that the hospitals are not benefitting from the synergies between the separate chains.
Optimization of space and equipment utilization rarely takes place, and it is not well-defined who is responsible for taking care of these issues.
With billions of USD and Euros being invested in the hospital sector worldwide, there is by all accounts a huge potential for using logistics for future optimization within the hospital sector.
Effective “Hospital Logistics” can be utilized to uncover and exploit the challenges and the potential hidden in non-effective supply chains, in particular within areas such as: