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Improving Healthcare Operations pp 15–27Cite as

Improving Healthcare Systems

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Abstract

Improving healthcare has been on management and organisation agendas since the 1990s. This chapter reviews three different but complementary theoretical lenses: supply chain management (SCM), systems thinking and quality improvement (QI). In relation to improvement of healthcare the results have been variable, with even the better performing organisation struggling to sustain their improvement gains. As with other industries, when improving performance, the focus tends to be at a micro level. Conversely, systems thinking and SCM encourage organisations to think in terms of the whole system or for health and social care the entire patient pathway. This chapter considers the difficulties associated with silo (bounded) interventions, tool-based approaches to improvement and the dangers of sub-optimising the system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Human & Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom

    Sharon J Williams

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  1. Sharon J Williams
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Williams, S.J. (2017). Improving Healthcare Systems. In: Improving Healthcare Operations. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46913-3_2

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