Health services innovation : achieving stakeholder participation

![CDATA[As with many western health services, in Australia the New South Wales health system Emergency Departments (EDs) are under stress, with demand for emergency services growing faster than the population is increasing This has lead to "access block" in EDs whereby the demand for their services exceeds the bed capacity of the EDs To help overcome one cause of access block to EDs a project to optimise patient flow via analysis of work processes in the ED of a NSW Hospital utilising interactive computing simulation was undertaken This paper reports on a change in organizational culture that was enabled through the introduction of visual simulation as a new form of communication, enabling the challenging of strongly held views on the organization of a hospital department. Data collection included the researchers collecting time stamps and bookings schedules of patient procedures in the Imaging Department. Additionally, semi-structured interviews about scheduling issues, and observation of patient flow processes from the ED and wards to the Imaging Department were collected. Implementation of suggested improvements resulted in a 25% increase in the capacity of the department and a doubling of its capacity for cases from the ED. Improved communication between the ED and the Imaging department as a direct result of this project have lead to ongoing interdepartmental cooperation in projects to improve other imaging processes, commencing with CT scans. The implications of this project are that managers and clinicians who wish to change operational procedures in health care settings need to consider new communication channels that have the ability to overcome preconceptions regarding operational procedures and interdepartmental relationships.]]