Much has been written about Lean and it is often described as an approach for providing products or services that a customer requires on-time, of the right quality, at the right price, in the right amount, whilst meeting budgetary constraints and continually reducing costs.

At the Lean Healthcare Academy we feel:

What is the Lean Philosophy?

The Lean philosophy has grown over the past 100 years developing, evolving and adapting to the needs of business. At its core, however, are two over-riding principles which drive all of the other work.

Based on two main philosophies:

Elimination of waste In the simple definition the world consists of two types of activity, value added and non value added. A value added activity is something that advances the patients diagnosis or treatment. A non-value added activity is almost anything else. Non-value added activities are waste and can be classified according to the 8 classic wastes. These have been defined for many years in manufacturing and are displayed here in a healthcare context.

Respect for people This deals with the often overlooked part of any organisation, the people. At its core is the belief that people should be trained, empowered and coached. In return employees participate in organisational changes, take control locally of their working environment, set standards and maintain discipline. People are trained and empowered to make decisions locally, adopt national best practice, all in an open culture. There is a strong no-blame culture in Lean where mistakes and problems are perceived as opportunities to improve, not to chastise or brush issues under the carpet.

Lean and tools

Lean is the name given to the philosophy and culture. Within Lean there are many tools and techniques. There are simple tools, complicated tools, some are easy to use, some require a great deal of training and discipline in their application. The tools are only there to help. Great benefit can be derived from using a tool in isolation or even several tools together. This, however, is not going Lean. Lean is a cultural change within an organisation, not just a few spotlight projects or areas of excellence. Lean adds up to so much more than the sum of its parts. It is the relentless drive to improve the organisation, improve service delivery and do the absolute best for the patients, visitors and staff. Lean provides the framework, training and understanding to make this a reality.

The principles of Lean originate from the Japanese drive to improve their products after the Second World War. A key player in this process was Taiichi Ohno who helped develop the Toyota Production System.

"There is no magic method. Rather, a total management system is needed that develops a human ability to its fullest capacity to best enhance creativity and fruitfulness, to utilize facilities and machines well and to eliminate all waste." -Taiichi Ohno on Lean