Theatre utilisation and productivity diagnostic

Faced with increasing demand for theatres with fixed capacity, Edge Health undertook a diagnostic of a hospital’s theatre utilisation and productivity.

We used a variety of innovative diagnostic tools to identify blocks of free theatre space, analyse rates of surgery completion and investigate instances of cancellation and non-attendance.

We also simulated the impact of extending sessions by specialty. Based on this simulation, we found that improving the utilisation of theatre sessions could release an additional c.20% of capacity – the majority from reducing early finishes due to cancellations. We also found an additional c.14% opportunity from better utilisation of sessions that currently go fallow (i.e. dropped and not picked up).

The hospital used our insight to reintroduce a texting system to remind clinicians of expected no-shows, improve the theatre booking process and they are reviewing the work plans which lead to fallow sessions.