Gisborne Medical Centre
Gisborne Medical Center knew that their growth was constricted by the layout that they currently had. All the clinician rooms were positioned around the outside, while the central core was occupied by treatment rooms, emergency response, quarantine spaces, ambulance bay & drug store Where to from here? They were already running at capacity. They had already looked at many different systems to optimize room use as much as they could – and they simply couldn’t grow any further.
What our team found
When we came on site & assessed existing conditions, we found that the original plan had been designed to fill the space (rather than for optimization) in its initial build, which was only about 5- 8 years prior. When we investigated why that was, we found that the original build was a big step up in numbers for the owners, and even the that amount of clinical rooms was too many for them at the beginning. Now they were pushing at the seams, so we had to look for a solution which enabled the works to be done with maximum return on investment, rather than just demolishing everything & starting again, at vast cost – which wasn’t an option anyway because they were still operating from 8 AM to 8 PM.
How we solved it
We had a look at the central core, where the main hive of activity was, and worked out that the original layout there was actually sapping a lot of space. Our assessment showed that out that reconfiguring the central core yielded the most additional space opportunity for the lowest cost for the clinic. We had to then work around some challenges, namely how are we going to complete these works within the core, without major disruption to the clinic? If these works are going to disrupt the core, the hub of the operation, then the benefits that the new design will deliver will be outweighed by the tremendous upheaval of the construction works.
We came up with a multistage delivery program. Starting at 7:30 – 8 PM every night, we would work until 7 AM, then complete a site clean & make safe by 8 AM, ready for the next day of medical practice. We ran this program for 6 weeks, rebuilding the core, the treatment area, the emergency areas, the nurse station areas & the administration areas. We altered the reception, which helped free up the space to add three clinical rooms, as well as optimizing other patient nurse areas. These changes gave them extra firepower for their medical clinic to run at a higher level of optimization for better clinical care, better patient outcomes, and importantly high profitability & return on investment.
The strategic planning that went into locating the dead spots and unlocking them, opening up huge opportunities in the floor plate, was worth the investment in brain power. The strategic & critical thinking and the operational delivery in conjunction with their team made it possible to effect this transformation without any disruption to services. It was a highly choreographed symphony. The finished result has opened opportunities for revenue for Gisborne Medical. All the staff are satisfied, and the patients are thrilled with the additional capacity in their community.