Hospital Pharmacist
Vol 9 No 9 p252
October 2002

News summary

Hospital trusts seek industry advice to raise efficiency

Two Birmingham hospital trusts have collaborated with an adviser on industrial and technological policy to help raise trust efficiency.

The Birmingham Heartlands and University Hospitals Birmingham Trusts have sought the help of Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of Warwick University's Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). Professor Bhattacharyya advises the British, Indian and South African Governments on industrial and technological policy, and he says that he can raise efficiency of the Birmingham trusts by 30 per cent.

The WMG will initially undertake two pilot projects in pathology and diagnostic services at the trusts. The group will then aim to deliver new solutions to problems found within the trusts by considering how industrial organisations solve problems.

The trusts, which have 2,400 beds and combined budgets of around £450m a year, plan to use experience gained through the pilot projects to re-engineer their other activities.

John Charlton, chairman of University Hospitals Birmingham, says: “This is an opportunity for WMG to apply some of the key lessons from manufacturing to the NHS."