The Sunrise Health Region Mental Health Services reports it has engaged clients and staff with the help of lean management tools to eliminate the wait for patient treatment appointments.
"We were concerned about the wait lists and lack of a single point of entry. There was no standard process for clients to access our services," says Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Gary Shepherd. "The team decided that this was unacceptable and began to focus reducing the waiting list by streamlining and standardizing assessment, appointment scheduling and documentation processes."
A lean event week, called a Rapid Process Improvement Workshop (RPIW) was conducted. An RPIW is a rigorous and disciplined five day process, preceded by four weeks of intense preparation. The RPIW week is attended by a team of front line staff and client representatives, who, with the help of a lean-trained leader, meet to focus on a specific problem, identify root causes, create and test solutions, and by week's end, prepare to implement the solution(s) in the workplace. Teams check the solution(s) at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after to ensure results and procedures have been sustained, and to take corrective actions if needed.
"Lean provided a formal structure to examine problems hand-in-hand with the clients who access our services and the staff who deliver the services," adds Shepherd "The work of the team resulted in immediate improvements in access."
Without adding additional resources, the team achieved the following savings:
Reduced the patient treatment appointment wait list from over 100 in the months prior to the RPIW, down to 18 and then to zero clients
Created a shared appointment calendar, allowing clinicians to book appointments with other clinicians right at the time of the client's appointment. This eliminates the need for clients to wait for call back to follow-up appointments.
Reduced transcription time, thereby increasing medical record transcription capacity by 46 per cent. Faster transcription ensures that information in client medical records is readily available for on-going care.
Reduced quality defects by 58 per cent in notes arriving for transcription
Through the ongoing work with lean in Mental Health and Addictions Services, clients are able to begin receiving treatment sooner, leading to reductions in client risk, less exacerbation of symptoms, and improved quality of life concludes Shepherd.
