4.2 Organisational Readiness
4.2.1 Understanding the Process
Regarding understanding the process within Pottery
one of the most often cited comments from the RIEs
was that staff undertook process mapping exercises of
the patient journey. For many staff this was new and
they had not thought about the specific process from
the patient perspective. Therefore from this point of
view, staff had developed a better understanding of
process within their own departments. However, there
were no comments made regarding the process across
departments or within the hospital as a whole.
Also within Iron regarding the view of the patient
journey as a process through the whole of the relevant
hospital, there was a silo mentality at departmental
level. Even in successful projects, it was highlighted
that there was a disengagement of staff betweendepartments. There was the opinion that problems were
departmental problems and not organisational
problems. “Process improvement is easier within
departments than across departments. There is no
formal process for improving processes between
departments”
Within Ring when asked about the process view two
areas were able to provide an answer. These answers
highlighted that only some areas had learnt specific
aspects about having a process view. This highlighted
to the Trust that there was a need to understand that
the teams involved in process mapping should be more
widespread and include more people.
One department within Ring highlighted that it had tried
to use the tools learnt to look at other processes. It had
undertook a process map across the patient pathway
from the moment the referral letter arrived to the
moment the patient was discharged. This was seen as
improving the service. In another department the visual
map of the pathway enabled staff to see where they
were in the process.