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Conditions of Readiness to Support Sustainability of Lean in Public Services

Grant reference: RES-331-27-0053

Conference paper/presentation details

Title From tools to systems : a critical appraisal of lean healthcare implementations

Description This paper reviews the progress of four UK Lean healthcare implementations. Initial gains have demonstrated that Lean can be an effective tool in healthcare. However, many implementations ‘get stuck’ following initial success and we argue that Lean in healthcare will have to evolve in a similar way to manufacturing, from a tool-based to a systems-level implementation. We also report two key violations of Lean assumptions – a clear definition of the customer, and the incentive to free up and redeploy resources – that need to be addressed to create sustainable Lean public healthcare systems.

Language English

Primary contributor

Co-author Zoe Radnor

Additional contributors

Co-author Matthias Holweg

Additional details

Is this item peer reviewed? Yes

Date of publication 06 June 2010

Conference event title International annual EurOMA conference

Conference location Porto, Portugal

Conference number 17th

Conference date 06 June 2010

Cite this outcome

Citation Style:

Harvard

Radnor, Zoe and Holweg, Matthias From tools to systems : a critical appraisal of lean healthcare implementations. International annual EurOMA conference, 17th, Porto, Portugal, 2010.

Vancouver

Radnor Zoe and Holweg Matthias. From tools to systems : a critical appraisal of lean healthcare implementations. International annual EurOMA conference, 17th, Porto, Portugal, 2010.