Saving clinical time, improving stock management and providing visibility
Date published: 24 Feb 2022
Author: Lucy Hose
In simple terms the DeliverEASE project is about optimising stock control and inventory management principles for medical consumables at hospital wards by understanding what is in stock, when to replenish it, how much to order and how often.
It’s also about decluttering storerooms and providing customers with the right tools for ongoing stock management. Decluttering might sound easy, but if it was, we wouldn’t need people like Marie Kondo making TV shows and writing bestselling books telling us how to do it in our personal lives! Imagine how challenging this can be in a busy hospital environment, where you have multiple people and teams accessing storerooms, often in a hurry with different people placing orders for products, which can result in too much, or not enough of certain items. This causes issues when teams urgently need an item and it’s either not there or they simply can’t find it. Sharen Ozcan, Associate Director, Supply Chain Transformation at HealthShare NSW said, “Medical consumable storerooms across the state have an estimated statewide addressable spend value in excess of $500M per year.” The potential for DeliverEASE to bring efficiencies through time and money saved across the state is extensive.
Part of the NSW Health Procurement Reform Program, DeliverEASE is a value-based solution that delivers improved outcomes for clinicians and other supply chain end-users, freeing up time to focus on patient care. It began in partnership South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) in 2020 and is transforming the medical consumable supply chain by optimising processes from the point of receipt of goods at the hospital dock to the storeroom.
Before DeliverEASE our stakeholders at Prince of Wales Hospital (SESLHD) told us:
- “Lack of storage makes it difficult to manage.”
- “No visibility of when stock is arriving.”
- “Time spent looking for products takes us away from patients.”
- “Boxes are sometimes left on the floor.” (Which is an infection control risk)
- “Ordering items is time consuming.”
Project teams and LHD sponsors work with each ward to implement and embed a practical management framework which is supported by data, dashboards and training. This encourages continuous improvement and makes it sustainable across the wards. Kim Senior, DeliverEASE Programme Lead, HealthShare NSW said, “After a successful prototype, we’re nearing completion of DeliverEASE across Prince of Wales Hospital and Royal Hospital for Women. We have now begun at Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital and The Sutherland Hospital”.
Ashleigh McRae, Nurse Unit Manager, Adult Recovery Unit, Prince of Wales Hospital said, “A big thank you to your stocktake team, they have been wonderful, so polite and lovely people - they have been working very hard!”
From left to right, some of the DeliverEASE team helping our LHDs with their implementation. Grace Thomson, Team Leader, Caren Moore, Team Leader, Ben Lenthall, Relay Support Officer, Marnie Deligero, Relay Support Officer and Steve Crook, Team Leader
Post-implementation feedback:
- “It is so much easier to see the amount of stock on the shelves.”
- “I feel more in control of my ordering.”
- “It really is easier to find things.”
- “I have more room is my storeroom as I’m not overordering.”
“DeliverEASE improves inventory visibility and management controls to deliver increased availability of stock and cost savings,” explains Kim “the processes, ways of working and principles return time to clinicians, enabling them to spend this time providing patient care.”
“DeliverEASE is an excellent example of working with partners and customers to develop, implement and embed changes to practise that directly support staff and patients. It’s also aligned with the NSW Health Commissioning for Better Value program which is accelerating the move to value-based healthcare in NSW and focusing on outcomes instead of outputs.” said Alex Araujo, A/Executive Director, Procurement and Supply Chain Operations, HealthShare NSW. He explained that “during 2022 DeliverEASE is on track to start onboarding an additional nine Local Health Districts.”
If you’d like to find out more about Commissioning for Better Value visit the NSW Health website.
Before and after images from Prince of Wales Hospital, Dickinson Ward.
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