Alliance Medical bosses get a taste of life at the sharp end: Day-in-the-life initiative illuminates the experience of patients

Abstract

Purpose

Describes how senior managers and central support office staff at Alliance Medical – a company that provides health scans – visited front-line employees to get a flavor of how they operate.

Design

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methodology

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approach

Explores the reasons for the initiative and its outcomes. Also describes how the company is meeting the increasing demand for scanning services.

Findings

Explains that the day-in-the-life initiative provided all parties with a better understanding of how the different functions work together to ensure a high-quality imaging service for patients.

Practical implications

Describes how the company has extended the hours of operation at its busiest sites, reduced waiting times and improved the level of care.

Social implications

Reveals that, with the number of magnetic-resonance-imaging scans increasing by around 10 per cent a year, there is a strong financial case for extending hours and improving productivity through the most efficient use of scanning services. The Alliance Medical experience highlights one way in which this can be achieved.

Originality

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value

Emphasizes the importance of key performance indicators including hours of uptime and the number of patients scanned per hour. These statistics are reported daily right up to board level.

Citation

Pollitt, D. (2014), "Alliance Medical bosses get a taste of life at the sharp end: Day-in-the-life initiative illuminates the experience of patients", Strategic Direction, Vol. 30 No. 10, pp. 39-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-10-2014-0144