Efficient staff utilisation
Public health is increasingly under pressure. The demand for healthcare is growing, for example, due to the increased focus on both healthcare inequalities and prevention. But it’s also important to continue providing good, high-quality and customised care. The labour shortage adds an additional challenge to achieving the workload. Using capacity planning gives you better control of your workforce and the tasks that need doing and improves your staff’s efficiency so they can do the work within the budget.
Challenges
Every sector or industry has its own challenges. In the healthcare sector we often come across the following:
Shortages and bottlenecks
The demand for capacity fluctuates and several skills are often required to provide the care that is needed. When the right skills are not available at the right time, bottlenecks arise, resulting in longer lead times or backlogs.
Financial resources
There is seldom enough money to meet the demands of the care needed. And yet the work is always expected to be done within budget.
Change
The healthcare sector is subject to change, for example, as a result of sociocultural evolution and developments in the medical field. Consequently, organisations must constantly adapt.
Capacity management on every level
To utilise your staff efficiently, it’s important to plan on several levels: the tactical level (a few months), up to a year in advance (capacity planning), as well as for the coming weeks (operational planning). These three types of planning are connected and reinforce each other.
Capacity and tactical planning
Capacity planning plays an important role in an organisation’s ability to perform the work. At the tactical level, it allows an organisation to determine the best way of utilising the available capacity to meet the demand and how it can increase the capacity to solve specific bottlenecks. Process simulation produces different scenarios, one of which will be leading for the operational planning.
Operational planning
At the operational level, capacity planning consists of matching the staffs’ skills and availability to the demand. This can be done partially or completely automatically, so the planners can focus on the exceptions. Depending on the organisation’s sector and field of activity, other factors can also be included, such as travel time or personal preferences.
Integration
Integrating the underlying HR system and digital files is important to prevent errors and duplicate entries. It also provides better insight and enables you to make adjustments in a timely manner.
