UK Healthcare System: A Case Study (A Job To Be Done Interview)
THE BACKGROUND:
NHS Providers is the membership organization for the NHS hospital, mental health, community, and ambulance services that treat patients and service users in the NHS.
NHS Providers has all trusts involuntary membership, collectively accounting for £84bn of annual expenditure and employing more than one million staff.
Of the 217 NHS providers, there are 80 acute providers (providing largely hospital-based services) 10 ambulance services.
THE INTERVIEWEE: Jack — Consultancy and advisor for NHS providers
STAKEHOLDER ROLE: The Job Performer
STAKEHOLDER DEPENDENCIES: Medium power, highly interested / Keep Informed / Easy-care stakeholder
THE BUSINESS:
Specializing in healthcare, Jack runs an independent management consultancy in England. He works with the local general practices, usually operating with scale, either in a primary care network, or a large practice of 30,000 patients or more.
The Economic Buyer:
Director of Finance, Head of Contracting, NHS Supply Chain
Other stakeholders are:
Approver — The commissioner
Reviewer — Department of Health and Social Care
Technician — The IT department
Manager — Department Head
Audience — Doctors or Patients
Jobs-As-Activities:
Main Job: Consult strategy
Related Job: Look for opportunities, test new technologies
Emotional and Social Jobs: Feeling trusted, respected, and recognized
Process:
Needs: safe, trust, speed
- help clients stabilize the practices
- Bring innovative solutions to his clients
- Make the change smooth for his clients
- Reduce the risk for patients
- Increase the chance of getting approval from the commissioner
- Achieve the expected result
Circumstances:
- when doctors make special requests
- When new technologies come
- when there are massive events (such as the Covid-19 Pandemic)
Insights:
The NHS in England is working on Windows 7. One of the most common complaints is that it takes half an hour for the clinical computer system to start up and function before seeing patients because it’s so old and antiquated. They’re working on old equipment and all the operating systems as well.
Because of the taxpayer-funded system, the health services normally overspend. Similar to Canadian healthcare providers, NHS providers are not motivated to stay within the budget or find the opportunity to cut down costs and increase efficiency. That is because Nobody’s holding them accountable for budget spending.
The question is, what was the money spent on?
Switch Interview: (Jobs-As-Progress)
The Four Forces:
Insights:
NHS has never really been quick to adopt the technology. As new technologies come, the NHS is not fast at responding to it and seizing the opportunity and season. When Covid-19 Pademic arrived, providers were forced to make the change because they couldn’t see everybody face to face.
Because of the large technical shift to video and phone consultations, there are now 85% more consultations being done virtually. Only when it’s absolutely required, less than 15% of patients will meet face to face.
The real shift has been in using more technology, using smarter technology to try and help them rather than having to see everybody face to face.
Why it is so hard for hospitals to innovate?
“It’s usually either money or inertia, and people just can’t be bothered. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. So what do I care that the patient’s got a nine-month wait, we’re working as hard as we can. We’ll do as much as we can. You know, I can’t help it. I haven’t got the money to change the system. It’s just as all of a sudden they get lots of them.”
It is unlikely hospitals will go back to old ways. Doctors don’t want to have waiting rooms full of patients. It’s a large step in the right direction that will stay with us. Hopefully, we’ll see more technology put to use.
