Background information
Helse Sør-Øst is Norway's largest health region, with a total budget of SEK 70 billion. One of Helse Sør-Øst's most important long-term strategic goals is to reduce waiting times in outpatient specialist care.
Challenge
Sirona was commissioned to support Helse Sør-Øst in the process of identifying areas with potential for productivity improvements in all areas of the region's operations, as well as the implementation of the change process.
Implementation
Sirona carried out quantitative analysis and screening of Helse Sør-Øst's internal data and publicly available data. This was done in order to identify differences in productivity in all elective care in all areas of activity between the ten different health authorities in the region.
Sirona carried out a simulation of various productivity-enhancing measures to create an evidence base for further prioritization work on queues and waiting times for the entire operation and each hospital and clinic. Each hospital and clinic was then given considerable freedom to design their own programs for further implementation. Working closely with the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority's working group, Sirona then developed a system and process for regular and systematic follow-up of the clinics' improvement work. Our team also developed indicators for monitoring at both hospital and clinic level, such as waiting times and the proportion of patients who did not receive care within the specified time. In addition, Sirona's team provided process and methodological support to Helse Sør-Øst's working group in the continuous improvement work. During the course of the project, Sirona participated in workshops to anchor the results in the operations.
Outcome
Sirona's work contributed to the launch of a comprehensive and long-term change process in Helse Sør-Øst. During the first half of 2014, the work was anchored in the relevant operations, and structured procedures for feedback of follow-up data were implemented. These procedures were developed by HSE in collaboration with Sirona. The preliminary results of the work showed that the proportion of patients not receiving care within the time limit (deadline violation) decreased on average from 6.3% to 5.2%. The trend points to a continued decrease; in September 2015 the rate was only 4%.
