Essay Example on Improving Hospital Food Quality: A Business Case Study

Introduction

To assist focus the team, the project lead began with a project to define the problem they were attempting to solve and the objective they aimed at achieving.

Business Case:

Improving the quality of the patients' meals is the primary case in that by catering services in-house, design of new menus by top chefs and the Lloyd Grossman initiatives for Better Hospital Food, we are effectively reducing food issues facing the patients in the hospital. The National Health Service (NHS) spends nearly PS500 million to serve 300 million meals in at most 1, 200 hospitals annually. It is estimated that the food wastage in hospital is PS144 million yearly, which is thrice the Department of Health estimate of PS45 million. The outsourcing of the catering processes to the food manufacturing company situated 20 miles away will improve food nutrition because of the high nutritional value, decrease food waste, and ultimately improve food quality.

Problem Statement:

The hospital has received 375 hospitals in the previous years about the quality of the meals of the patients. It is an actual cause of concern considering the rising number of patients that are left malnourished, and the quantity of food wastage is increasing. The rising quantity of food wastage has forced the hospital and NHS to evaluate the likely alternatives to enhance the delivery of meals spanning from kitchen to patient. If the alternatives are not effective, the hospital will continue to deliver low quality meals to its patients.

Objective Statement:

The objective of the hospital was to improve the food quality that is served to its patients particularly those on long stay. Additionally, by outsourcing food catering processes to a food manufacturing company will improve the nutritional value in the food consumed by the patients and cut down food wastage.

SIPOC map:

Before planning to begin any process management, it is vital to have an indepth understanding of the process. A SIPOC (supplier, inputs, process, output, customer) analysis was used in the define stage to acknowledge the customer base. It was developed to assist the process owner and individuals working on the process to agree on the project scope. It offers a way to discuss the process and reach an understanding on what it entails before drawing the process maps (Sibanda & Ramanathan 2019; Brown 2019). The SIPOC analysis in Figure 1 recognized the main outcome metric, the base of customer, and a great-level assess of the present state of the process.

Supplier Input Process Output Customer

Pareto analysis:

Y = F (X) + E

Y=f(x)

The simple looking equation is highlighted as the crux of the Six sigma philosophy. The component parts of the equation are as follows:

Y = Outputs also known as Dependant Variables

X = Inputs also known as independent Variables

F = Function of

The equation implies that the outputs we obtain are the function of the inputs that we deliver to the process. Therefore, if we are capable to control the inputs with precision, the outputs would also be regulated accurately.

The variables that are critical to the patients are variety, the texture of meat and vegetables, flavor, and, the perception of selecting a healthy meal. On other hand, the variables that are vital to the caterers are access to materials and the quantity of consumers.

Build a House of Quality

Measure

In a patient satisfaction survey, the application of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is driven with the motive of guaranteeing material and information flow in a manner that assists get rid of non-value added activities and decrease of waste. It depicts that the application of value stream mapping enables a critical assessment of exiting process of a health care project and compares them with the anticipated or standard process of the similar industry (HO 1995). The value stream mapping acknowledges the studies and explores the difference between 'what is' and 'what should be.'

Also, the value mapping demonstrate the the flow of materials and information in a process in a graph. It shows the liaising of many organizational functions and ancillary functions. It highlights the problem areas, defects, and bottlenecks in an efficient manner as it combines and maps the details the flow of material and information alongside the sequence of tasks. It even demonstrates the cycle-times and lag-times between the distinct tasks. In addition, it engages the stakeholders in every phase of the process and therefore become easy to develop and enforce the countermeasures to enable the change of culture in the company (Doughlas et al. 2017). Continuous enhancement is enabled as the direction can be concentrated on lean transformation teams and upper management.

Analyze

Value and Non-Value Added Process Steps:

To offer high quality food service to the patients, resources such as labor, money, information, and time will be essential. The objective is to offer the greatest amount of value to clients whereas using the least amount of the resources. The concept of including value to products and services is a significant notion of lean. It is described as anything that the client would be willing to pay (George 2003). The provision of low quality food service will meant that the food manufacturing corporation is not offering value to the client. When analyzing the step, it is vital to look at every phase and evaluate whether it is contributing to the value of the desired output. Every phase can be classified as value-added or non-value added (waste).

Value added steps are a process whereby things are included to the service for the client who would be more than willing to pay. These activities allow deriving most from expening the sources when offering high quality food service to hospitals. There are many steps in the process for getting food but the client is willing to pay for the service in which there is delivery of the specific ordered food, enough portion size, highly nutritious, comfort food on menu, protected meal time, served at right time, menu designed by celebrity chef, hot food present for each meal, easy to understand menu, food well-presented, food tastes good, and a diversity of menu. In this scenario, only those steps in the process that lead to the actual development of the food that satisfies the patient will be taken into account as value added steps.

Non-Value Added Process Steps is categorized under pure waste. In these procesdures, the resources are expended, delays happen, and no value is included to the food service to Riverside hospital. The clients are not willing to pay a dime for these activities. These steps require to be gotten rid of from the process. Lean acknowledges types of waste. They entail food not the correct temperature, delivery of wrong meal ordered, cultural or personal food preferences ignored, poor quality meal ingredients, poor quality cooking (over or under cooked), patient not hungry (may be recovering from surgery), portion size too large, and patient required assistance that was not available.

Cause and effect diagram

Why-Why and How-How analysis:

• Problem Who What When Where Which How
• Scatter Diagram and possible correlations;
• Improve
• Control

This stage entails the development of a standard process that defines the ways of working and monitoring the process performance in the future. To monitor the outcomes, a couple of six sigma tools require to be effected. A control plan is essential to maintain track of an enhanced process at its present level. Statistical Process Control that scrutinizes the process behavior by enhancing quality services through decrease of process variation. Standardized work assists to attain the optimum efficacy, efficiency and consistency when the work is leveled in the entire operations.

The training of the health personnel in communication and interpersonal skills is perceived to be cost-effective than developing technical amenities in enhancing the contentment of patients. The training will solve issues linked with the perceptions and norms of the catering staff in offering food services. Frequent monitoring of the quality of nutritional care of hospitalized patients based on the major standards and the appraisal of the standards set for the food service such as the client satisfaction are significant to enhance the overall in-patient care. Such attempts will not enhance the effective use of present resources though will be cost-effective in the long run through decreasing the waste of food and impending food quality.

The dietary services can contribute to the success of hospital food service. Their services span from planning of the menu and the development of the recipe to nutritional analysis of hospital meals that equate to the needs of the patients (Theurer 2011). It is important that the medical personnel that are qualified in human nutrition and dietetics should liaise with the food manufacturing company to guarantee that the nutritional standards of the meals offered at the hospital. Nutritional counseling and evaluation is essential during discharge.

Timing of meals highlights the reason behind the refusal of hospital food which is interfered by external aspects. When there is no designated dining area in the wards, the confined environment can inhibit any desire for consuming food. Protected meal moments can be launched with a setting for dining to make the meal times pleasant. The perception of food quality can rely on distinct attributes such as variety, the texture of meat and vegetables, flavor, and, the perception of selecting a healthy meal. The menu changes enforced to enhance food quality require illuminating a diversity of influences. Every hospital foodservice institution is exceptional and interventions require to be customized to the needs and perceptions of the patient population (Muraal & Davas 2014).

Bibliography

Brown, C., 2019. Why and how to employ the SIPOC model. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 12(3), pp.198-210.

Sibanda, N. and Ramanathan, U., 2019. A holistic approach of quality: a case of UK chocolate manufacturing. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.

Muraal, S. and Davas, V., 2014. Assessment of acceptability and satisfaction of patients for government hospital diets. J Nurs Health Sci, pp.38-40.

Theurer, V.A., 2011. Improving patient satisfaction in a hospital foodservice system using low-cost interventions: Determining whether a room service system is the next step.

Ho, S.K., 1995. TQM: an integrated approach: implementing total quality through Japanese 5-S and ISO 9000. Kogan Page.

Douglas, J., Muturi, D., Douglas, A. and Ochieng, J., 2017. The role of organisational climate in readiness for change to Lean Six Sigma. The TQM Journal.

George, M.L., 2003. How to use Lean speed and Six Sigma quality to improve services and transactions.