Project
Hospital Logistics: Central warehouse for hospitals will free money and staff in Region Zealand
Hospital Logistics analysis from NIRAS revealed that the establishment of a new central warehouse for the hospitals of Region Zealand in Denmark would be extremely beneficial for both the patients and the region itself.
July 13, 2017
- SDG: #3
- SECTORS: Pharma and Life Science
- COUNTRIES: Denmark
- CLIENT: Central warehouse on Zealand
- DURATION: The project has been run in a number of sub-projects since 2011
Huge savings and the best possible use of resources within hospital logistics. These are some of the clear advantages for Region Zealand in merging a number of storage facilities into a single central warehouse for the Region's hospitals.
This was the conclusion of a hospital logistics report, which NIRAS has been working on for a number of years together with the Region.
For Region Zealand, the project began with the first, tentative thoughts of setting up a central warehouse for the region's hospitals and culminated in 2015, when the Regional Council decided that the Region's warehouses should be consolidated and the service outsourced.
In many cases it is the nursing staff that have been responsible for ordering and replenishing items. That means less time for patients.
This will probably take place in 2018. The centralisation of the hospital warehouses is completely in line with the overall supply strategy of Denmark's regions.
NIRAS's work shows that consolidating the services can mean huge savings in terms of purchasing and logistics for Region Zealand, while centralisation within hospital logistics can be of great benefit to patients.
Until now, each of the Region's hospitals had its own warehouse. Hospitals often use different products, and in many cases it is the nursing staff that have been responsible for ordering and replenishing items. That means less time for patients.
Service organisation and logistics systems
The centralisation of the hospital logistics will mean a clear concept of who deals with what, so nursing staff can take care of patients, while in the background a service organisation will supply the departments and maintain the logistics systems. It is fundamentally about using resources in the most sensible way.
At the beginning of the project NIRAS helped the Region to identify what it would take to set up a central warehouse. The analysis of the hospital logistics showed that many conditions had to be in place.
Fundamental logistics concept
For one thing, a central warehouse requires all product master data to be in place, together with a joint range, joint IT system and consistent use of the warehouse, logistics and procedures.
NIRAS then prepared a fundamental logistics concept, which presented the preconditions for outsourcing the warehouse service and a schedule for how the Region could proceed in the process.
Profound knowledge of hospital logistics
The region will transfer from de-central management to central management. The organisation will have to get used to the fact that some people look after patients, while others look after supplies. This will require change management and time.
Region Zealand reaped huge benefits from their work with NIRAS, who possess profound knowledge of logistics in general, including how to outsource and run warehouse facilities, and hospital logistics in particular.
This provided security and peace of mind when the customer was making decisions.