Excerpt from Case Study :

SWOT of King Edward Hospital NHS Trust.

The trust had already developed benchmarking practices to evaluation of its hospital' systems, so that data germane to the new initiative was supported by an existing pilot, Hospital Emergency Care Collaborative (HECC), a target study of discharge procedure, and particularly informative to interpretation to the delineation of points where 'value' disappeared during the course of the patient journey. As a 'transfer initiative' modeled after Social Service program assessment, HECC was refocused as a Premier Project with risk reduction to finance and patients in mind. Incorporation of the SWOT and known assessment criterion from the HECC informs the PESTLE organizational analysis in Table 3.

Table 3

PEST / PESTLE Analysis of King Edward Hospital NHS Trust, UK

Date of Analysis 10.11.2010 view

PESTLE Analysis factors

Your notes

Potential Impact:

Implication and importance

Review of feasibility and implementation of the admission-to-discharge case at King Edward Hospital NHS Trust, UK.

The following is intended as a strategic insight study and contributed to Six Sigma assessment of the 'total' organization.

H - High

M - Medium

L - Low

U - Undetermined

Time Frame:

0-6 months

6-12 months

12-24 months

24 + months

Type:

Positive +

Negative

Unknown

Impact:

Increasing

Unchanged =

Decreasing <

Unknown

Relative Importance:

Critical

Important

Un-important

Unknown

Political - SWOT

Trading policies

Funding, grants and initiatives

Governmental leadership

Government structures

Internal political issues

Shareholder / stakeholder needs / demands

Allocations were critical to mandate of the NHS 'reinvestment' strategies. NHS hospitals like King Edwards Hospital Trust were realigning strategies in an effort to curb spending.

While stakeholder interest included traditional interests of CEO/CFO and political representative, 'value' was placed on patient care and long-term institutional sustainability.

Nurses are seen as the solution to the crisis.

H

24+

P

Critical

Economic - SWOT

Home economy situation

Home economy trends

Overseas economies and trends

General taxation issues

Taxation changes specific to product/services

Seasonality/weather issues

Market and trade cycles

Specific industry factors

Market routes and distribution trends

Customer/end-user drivers

International trade/monetary issues

Disposable income

Job growth/unemployment

Exchange rates

Tariffs

Inflation

Interest and exchange rates

Consumer confidence index

Import/export ratios

Production level

Internal finance

Internal cash flow

The challenges faced by the NHS Trust staff were driven by patient and fiscal drivers.

The institutions were under duress to respond to overcrowding.

Change management strategies were met with varied support, yet all participants agreed that despite imperfect solutions that something had to be done.

Productivity was halting in the hospitals due to a number of informatics mismanagement errors or inefficiencies. The current legacy architecture would be upgraded in accordance with NHS standards of data management, but the time lapse between proposal and actual database reconfiguration, not to mention training put the hospital institutions on a slower than desired plan of action.

H

24+

P

Critical

Social - SWOT

Consumer attitudes and opinions

Media views

Law changes affecting social factors

Brand, company, technology image

Consumer buying patterns

Major events and influences

Buying access and trends

Ethnic/religious factors

Advertising and publicity

Ethical issues

Demographics (age, gender, race, family size,)

Lifestyle changes

Population shifts

Attitudes to work

Attitudes to people doing certain types of work

Occupations

Earning capacity

Staff attitudes

Management style organizational culture

Changes to education system

The social inferences to decision making in the NHS Trust were largely defined by social policy enforced by Parliamentary legislation.

Legal changes were a key external factor, and demographic elements of population growth and increase in patient waitlists in certain areas of clinical treatment have prompted attention to the forthcoming changes with the NHS policies.

Staff attitudes were reflective of older values attributed to standing NHS organizational culture. New values must be incorporated into the Nurse-Led change management initiatives which will ultimately transform the procedural strictures of how patient journeys are managed.

M

24+

P

Important

Technological - SWOT

Competing technology development

Research funding

Associated/dependent technologies

Replacement technology/solutions

HAI are a distinct area of concern within HAI policy presently, and the UK expends approximately £1 billion annually combating infectious risk.

Patient-client value as asset to the Trust was at a critical state, with complaints of delayed admissions and confusion regarding testing and aftercare.

1)

2) Environ

H

24+

P

Critical

Table 3. Pestle/SWOT analysis of King Edward Hospital NHS Trust (RapidBi, 2010).

Summation to the findings of the King Edward Hospital NHS Trust SWOT informed PESTLE analysis is as follows:

Political - implications fostered by forthcoming restrictions to Allocations were critical to mandate of the NHS 'reinvestment' strategies. NHS hospitals like King Edwards Hospital Trust were realigning strategies in an effort to curb spending. While stakeholder interest included traditional interests of CEO/CFO and political representative, 'value' was placed on patient care and long-term institutional sustainability. Nurses are seen as the solution to the crisis;

Economic - challenges faced by the NHS Trust staff were driven by patient and fiscal drivers. The institutions were under duress to respond to overcrowding. Change management strategies were met with varied support, yet all participants agreed that despite imperfect solutions that something had to be done. Productivity was halting in the hospitals due to a number of informatics mismanagement errors or inefficiencies. The current legacy architecture would be upgraded in accordance with NHS standards of data management, but the time lapse between proposal and actual database reconfiguration, not to mention training put the hospital institutions on a slower than desired plan of action.

Social - inferences to decision making in the NHS Trust were largely defined by social policy enforced by Parliamentary legislation. Legal changes were a key external factor, and demographic elements of population growth and increase in patient waitlists in certain areas of clinical treatment have prompted attention to the forthcoming changes with the NHS policies. Staff attitudes were reflective of older values attributed to standing NHS organizational culture. New values must be incorporated into the Nurse-Led change management initiatives which will ultimately transform the procedural strictures of how patient journeys are managed.

Technology - emerged as a key concern to the rehabilitation strategy that lay before the NHS Trust hospitals. Still struggling with legacy systems, hospital staff found themselves subject to a range of procedural complications that delayed patient processing in the system. Better it systems architecture and software was recommended as solution, yet with obsolescence in healthcare informatics comes responsibility in other areas. Operations, research and innovation, logistics, partnership referrals, patient record and education, and the entire scope of intra-hospital communications must be changed in order for legacy systems issues to be transformed in actual practice.

Legal -- factors are legislative policy mandates, with certain regulatory compliance to follow. Legal interests are precursor to the case.

Environmental -- interests are two-fold and relate to risk management: 1) Environmental Health; and 2) Impact on Value. Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) presented a significant challenge to the admission-to-discharge initiative. HAI are a distinct area of concern within HAI policy presently, and the UK expends approximately £1 billion annually combating infectious risk (Aziz, 2009). Patient-client value as asset to the Trust was at a critical state, with complaints of delayed admissions and confusion regarding testing and aftercare.

Conclusion

At a time when UK NHS has done much to promote artificial intelligence as viable solution to informatics flow in Britain's healthcare institutions, it is not surprising that since the…