Barnet Hospital: Operations, Logistics, and Service Delivery Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Barnet Hospital, focusing on its operations, logistics, and supply chain management within the healthcare sector. It examines the critical aspects of managing quality, including the supply of hospital wards, logistics planning, and control, and the operational concepts involved. The essay delves into managing people through various healthcare delivery systems, such as outpatient and inpatient care, and explores the medical services offered, including dispensary care and rehabilitative care. It highlights the importance of efficient service delivery, patient care, and the overall impact of these elements on the hospital's ability to serve its patients effectively. The essay emphasizes the need for careful planning, trustworthy logistics control, and the integration of operational concepts to ensure smooth and effective service delivery. The content covers essential considerations for Barnet Hospital, including the importance of quality control and the delivery of medical services.

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MANAGING QUALITY ................................................................................................................1
Operations...............................................................................................................................3
MANAGING PEOPLE....................................................................................................................4
Delivery system......................................................................................................................4
Medical services.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The operations, logistics and the supply chain management are considered as those
elements that help in regulating the flow of all the medical services and products from the
manufacturer to the hospital authorities for the patients (Ivan Su, Gammelgaard and Yang, 2011).
Barnet hospital is a part of the royal free London NHS foundation trust which provides free
services to the people who are in need. Various departments have been included in the Barnet
hospital which is a sort of relief for people suffering from any issue regarding paediatrics,
dermatology, gynaecology etc. As Barnet Hospital is being considered in this essay, it will
include the issues, logistics and operational management that has been faced by this sector and
also, it includes the market, it supports. Also, it discusses about the service delivery systems of
Barnet hospital. Along with this, it also includes the infrastructure, Barnet hospital supports and
how the Barnet hospital will help and supports the market it serves.
Although there are variety of issues that the operations and the supply managers have to
deal with the logistics and the supply chain management. Various issues faced because of
logistics are discussed as under which then involves managing and controlling of the quality as
well. These are further explained as under :
MANAGING QUALITY
All the processes under managing the quality are describes as under :
Supply of hospital wards
Logistics deals with the supply of various services and products that are necessary for
continuing the whole process. . The logistics partner must be trustworthy enough that can
develop a process transparency in the wards. Along with this, it should provide minimised and
optimised management of the inventory so that Barnet hospital can save costs. In some case, the
logistics do not deliver at the required time which causes a sort of inconvenience to the patients
and staff because if there will be less availability of the wards, the patients will be adjusted in a
single area which is obviously a discomfort (Langabeer and Helton, 2015).
The patients are already suffering, so such type of atmosphere can affect the health of the
patients as well. Also, the authorities should consider the fact that the wards which are being
supplied should be comfortable enough so that the patients may not feel any sort of discomfort
regarding them. After the delivery of these wards, it is the responsibility of Barnet hospital to
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clean them on a regular basis because uncleanliness can make the condition of the patients even
more harsh and complicated. Barnet hospital should ensure the fact that the beddings should be
cleaned after every two days whether or not if some patient will be admitted on that. It is
required to maintain because various people visit hospital daily, so the beddings and other things
must be having various germs as well.
Planning of the logistics systems
The planning of the logistics plays a very vital role because it includes the whole
structure of it. The main components include the analysis, integrated planning, in house logistics
etc. Barnet hospital has done the planning of the logistics according to some basis. It is required
that the logistics should be near the hospital, means it should not be that far that it takes a long
time to supply the products (Aronsson, Abrahamsson and Spens, 2011). It is because in case of
any emergency, late delivery can make the situation very complex. In any urgent case,
unavailability of any specific product may cause complications for the patient. So, it can be
considered as one of the main issue if the manufacturer or the logistics are quite far from the
hospital (Dyckhoff, Lackes and Reese, 2013). So, Barnet hospital should consider the fact to
keep their logistics nearby so that in case of any emergency as well, they can provide the
specified medicines to the hospital so that immediate treatment of the patients can be started.
Logistics control
Barnet hospital should ensure the fact that they should have a trustworthy logistics
control unit because if they do not have an honest controller, they can face a huge loss. As in
some cases, the controller itself does not represent some items that have been supplied by the
manufacturer and it is being done in order that the controller may take that money in his pocket
(Swink and et.al, 2014). So, these small steals on a regular basis can give a huge loss to Barnet
hospital. So, they should ensure that the person they keep on the controller chain will be
trustworthy enough that they can be able to manage all the finances of all the logistics of the
Barnet hospital.
Operational concepts of Logistics
It involves the fact that all the concepts, processes and procedures regarding the
operations and the supply chain management of the hospital should be decided before the
hospital has been made (Mangan and Lalwani, 2016). This can be done because a pre-planning
can always help better than instant planning. So, the whole understanding and analysis of all the
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management of the supply chain, other operations should be done before only so that it can help
the hospital and decrease the chances of any risk factors as well.
Logistics checks
Usually, the hospital authorities know where there is a need of improvement but still, if
any areas are not that clear and the authorities are possessing any sort of doubt in it, in that case,
the hospital can go through a logistics check so that all the areas requiring some sort of
modification are cleared out and then, they can be resolved as soon as possible.
Operations
Operations management is considered as that business function which is responsible for
maintaining all the processing related to the products and services it supplies. It considers the
fact that what services and products Barnet hospital serves and to whom. The intended audience
in this case will be the patients, staff and other members of the hospital. It means the cited
hospital works so that they can provide an efficient treatment to the patients by giving them the
services they can be comfortable in. All the organising and planning of the products and services
for the patients and staff will be involved in it. There is an essential place for the operations,
whether they are service or manufacturing in the supply chain and logistics of the hospital
(Heizer, 2016). It acts a very essential role as it considers the availability of the sources that are
there to supply the specific matter.
A very important factor that Barnet hospital should consider here is that while looking
from the products in any supply chain or logistics, they should also ensure about the quality
because it is a serious matter (De Vries and Huijsman, 2011). If any drug or medication consists
of an increased chemical composition in any one ingredient, that can also affect bad on the health
of the patient. So, although these measures are small but these can actually have a huge impact. It
supports the patients dealing with various types of issues and the ones who are undergoing
different complications and complexities.
Barnet hospital should focus on some very common and well-known factors, but most
essential ones as well. The hospital authorities should check that the treatment prescribed is
given to the patient or not (Dyckhoff, Lackes and Reese, 2013). Also, monitoring the staff is
equally important as well because in many cases, the mental condition of the patient is not good
so because of it, there are chances that the patient will disagree to take the medicines and the
specific treatment, so in that case, various staff members misbehaves with the patient which
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imbalances the stability of the patient at a huge extent. So, a proper monitoring should be done in
order to make sure that the staff members are behaving with the patients with love, care and
patience. It is because if they are ill, it is not their mistake. So, after admitting in the hospital, it
affects their mental stability as well because the environment inside the hospital is quite different
from the one outside.
MANAGING PEOPLE
The whole process of managing people involves the following characteristics which are
discussed as under :
Delivery system
There are various types of health care delivery systems which Barnet hospital can use.
These all are discussed as under:
Outpatient care
Outpatient treatment means providing support and care to the patient without even
involving their admission in the hospital (Ivan Su, Gammelgaard and Yang, 2011). It can further
be classified in three types that are discussed as under:
Primary outpatient care
In this, the well-known authorities of Barnet hospital can organise their own offices or
clinics as well so that in case after the hospital duty hours, if someone wants to meet them for
discussing any complicity or in case of any emergency, the people can contact the doctor there.
Specialised outpatient care
Specialised outpatient care can be considered as that care when there is a requirement of
the services that can be accomplished by specialists only such as a surgeon etc. (Langabeer and
Helton, 2015).
Stationary care
Stationary care is referred to be provided to the person or patient whose medical
condition seems to be quite complex which requires support and care more frequently than
others.
Inpatient Care
Inpatient care involves various practices that cannot be considered in an outpatient basis
and a condition which is necessary here is that the patient should be hospitalised so that the
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authority can provide them the relevant treatment. It can be further categorised in various types
which are discussed as under:
Acute Standard Inpatient care
It compiles of the patient which has a sudden illness or is going through a sudden
emergency condition harmful for their health (Aronsson, Abrahamsson and Spens, 2011). So, it
helps in giving a start to the processes which can be a rehabilitation program or any such other
program that can help the patient.
Acute intensive inpatient care
This type of treatment in Barnet hospital can be given to one who has a sudden
malfunction in any part of their body. Also, in case, when because of that, there occurs some
threat to the body of the person (Heizer, 2016).
Follow up inpatient care
In Barnet hospital, if any patient has been given a baseline diagnosis and the condition
has been improvised, then in that condition, this type of care is being provided to the person
(Swink and et.al, 2014).
Medical services
Like the other services, Barnet hospital also deals with delivering some medical services
to the patients so that a proper care and treatment is provided to them. While delivering the
medical services to the patients, the hospital authorities should also consider the fact that a
proper care and treatment is being provided to the patient that can help the person in getting well
soon. Also, along with these measures, the risk factors should be considered as well so that they
can access the risk factors before only. It will further help them in staying aware of all the risk
factors, thus they can be able to focus on the specific operation only. Some of these medical
services are discussed as under:
Dispensary care
In Barnet hospital, dispensary care is available for those patients who are undergoing any
long-term illness or in a condition, where the health is going down day by day (Mangan and
Lalwani, 2016). Barnet hospital focuses on providing them the specific treatment and keeps
monitoring the changes over time. On the basis of it, the further check-up and treatment is based
upon.
Rehabilitative Care/ Spa Therapeutic
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Spa treatment is involved in the rehabilitative and therapeutic care. In Barnet hospital, it
is done after the prescription of the authority or by the regular authority only because it is
provided in a very few cases (De Vries and Huijsman, 2011). Another important factor here is
that it is being provided in that case only when the person is being hospitalised in Barnet
hospital.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the essay that some factors such as logistics, operations and the
supply chain management have an important role in Barnet hospital. Although there are various
issues that are related to these factors but at such time, Barnet hospital should ensure of the fact
of using various techniques that can help them in resolving all the issues. It also includes the
delivery system of Barnet hospital and along with it, the market it supports.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aronsson, H., Abrahamsson, M. and Spens, K., 2011. Developing lean and agile health care
supply chains. Supply chain management: An international journal. 16(3). pp.176-183.
De Vries, J. and Huijsman, R., 2011. Supply chain management in health services: an
overview. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. 16(3). pp.159-165.
Dyckhoff, H., Lackes, R. and Reese, J. eds., 2013. Supply chain management and reverse
logistics. Springer Science & Business Media.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Ivan Su, S. I., Gammelgaard, B. and Yang, S. L., 2011. Logistics innovation process revisited:
insights from a hospital case study. International Journal of Physical Distribution &
Logistics Management. 41(6). pp.577-600.
Langabeer, J. R. and Helton, J.R., 2015. Health care operations management. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley
& Sons.
Swink, M. and et.al., 2014. Managing operations across the supply chain (pp. 248-249). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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