This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New business technique could improve public services
16/06/2006
Executive-commissioned research into an innovative business technique show it could improve the quality and productivity of public services.
Research conducted by Warwick University Business School examined the use of Lean business techniques in some public sector organisations. It showed organisations could use Lean to achieve better quality services with less bureaucracy and costs.
Improvements delivered include:
- Cutting end-to-end time for adaptations to housing for disabled people from over 200 days to 12 days
- Reducing time for local authority to remove abandoned vehicles from average of 28 to 3 days
- The percentage of cancer patients being met within the target of 62 days rose from around 40 per cent to around 80 per cent
- A reduction in the average time to first appointment for cancer patients from 23 to 12 days
- The average time taken for processing a planning application was reduced from five days to two days; and
- Skilled caseworking staff turnover reduced from 25-50% per year to 4%
- Better understanding of the processes increased staff morale, improved customer focus and provided the basis for creating and embedding a culture of continuous improvement
Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform Tom McCabe said:
"This research highlights the huge potential for the use of Lean business techniques to help drive up the quality of public services, and, in turn, productivity and efficiency. It is no quick-fix, but is another option for all public service providers to examine as they seek to improve the delivery of efficient and effective public services.
"We have just launched our discussion document which aims to deliver consensus on the best way forward for public services. This research into Lean business techniques is another option for public sector organisations to consider in this process."
Minister for Health and Community Care Andy Kerr added:
"We are building an NHS which is quicker, safer and closer to patients. New ways of working are already playing a big part in increasing efficiency and improving the quality of care that patients get. I am impressed by the potential for Lean techniques to be used to help make further improvements.
"Officials in the Health Department and colleagues in NHS Boards are looking at how and where these techniques could be best used."
Background
This research project, which was directed by the Scottish Executive's Performance and Innovation Unit, formed part of the longer-term element of the Efficient Government Initiative as set out in the Efficient Government Plan published in November 2004.
This study collated results from:
- A review of the international evidence on the use of lean in the public sector;
- Eight case studies of public sector organisations, seven in Scotland and one in England, using Lean including organisations in health, local government, central government and defence;
- A survey of Scottish public sector organisations using Lean; and
- An evaluation of Lean implementation using Rapid Improvement Events in three pilot sites in local government, health and education in Scotland.
The research activity was undertaken by Warwick University Business School between summer 2005 and April 2006. It was commissioned by the PIU and Office of the Chief Researcher and was undertaken in partnership with the NHS Centre for Change and Innovation. Advice to the PIU was also provided by senior management in The Weir Group PLC using their own experience of using Lean techniques. The research was carried out by Dr Zoe Radnor, Paul Walley and Andrew Stephens of Warwick Business School and Giovanni Bucci of AtoZ Consulting.
At their request the case and pilot study organisations are not directly identified in the research. Examples of the use of Lean studied included a variety of processes:
- A College of Further Education - telephone enquiry processes;
- Three NHS Hospitals (two in Scotland, one in England) - patient care, patient records and patient admissions
- Scottish Executive Agency - case working
- Scottish Executive Department - case working
- Three Scottish local authorities - housing repairs processes, overall quality and improvement culture programmes
- MOD operational base - management of maintenance operations
- Scottish based Non Departmental Body - case working
Lean Techniques originated with Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and 60s and have since continued to be developed and spread successfully to manufacturing and service industries around the world. They have more recently begun to be taken up in public sector organisations. Lean Techniques take the premise that all organisations are made up of a number of processes. Lean uses a number of business tools to look at organisational processes seeking to identify what constitutes customer value. Frontline staff then redesign processes to reduce waste that does not contribute to customer value to create new processes where activity is pulled by customer demand. The five core principles of Lean as identified by Professors Daniel Jones and James Womack are:
- Specify the value desired by the customer
- Identify the value stream for each product providing that value and challenge all of the wasted steps
- Make the product flow continuously
- Introduce pull between all steps where continuous flow is impossible
- Manage toward perfection so that the number of steps and the amount of time and information needed to serve the customer continually falls